S.  J. 

ALBANY, 


INCIDENTS 


AND    ANECDOTES 


OF  THE 


CIVIL    WAR, 


BY 


ADMIRAL    PORTER, 

ATTTHOB    OF    "ALLAN    DABB    AND    BOBEBT    LK    DIABLK,"    KTO. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.     APPLETON    AND     COMPANY, 

L,  8,  AND  5  BOND  STBEET. 
1885. 


COPTEIGHT,  1885, 

BY  D.  APPLETON   AND   COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved. 


CONTENTS. 


I. — REJOICINGS  IN  WASHINGTON  AT  THE  SECESSION  OF  SOUTH  CARO 
LINA ,    t       ..       ....        7 

II. — PLAN  TO  SAVE  FORT  PICKENS — DISLOYALTY  IN  THE  NAVY  DE 
PARTMENT — STEALING  A  MARCH  ON  THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE 
NAVY 13 

III. — INCIDENTS  AT  PENSACOLA — Two  DISTINGUISHED  TRAVELERS  WHO 
PROVE  TO  BE  OLD  ACQUAINTANCES — A  MEMORABLE  BREAK 
FAST  .  26 

IV. — DELAY  AT  PENSACOLA — ATTACK  ON  FORT  MORGAN — PENSACOLA 
ABANDONED — A  REMARKABLE  SPECIMEN  OF  A  SOUTHERN  UNION 
IST  .  ...  36 

V. — THE  ATTACK   ON   NEW  ORLEANS — SURRENDER   OF   THE   FORTS — 

THE  IRONCLAD  LOUISIANA      .        .        .       .  .        .        .47 

VI. — ERICSSON  AND  THE  MONITOR — AN  INTERVIEW  WITH   THE  GREAT 

ENGINEER         .        . 57 

VII. — PLANS  FOR  THE  CAPTURE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS — CONDUCT  OF  THE 
PEOPLE  ON  OUR  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  CITY — GENERAL 

BUTLER'S  ADMINISTRATION 63 

VIII. — ASCENDING   THE   MISSISSIPPI — ODD  SPECIMENS   OF  CONFEDERATES 

— A  PLANTATION  MANSION— DOUBTING  MOSES      ....      82 

IX. — PLANS  FOR  THE  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG— UNFORTUNATE  DE 
LAYS — THE  MORTAR  BOATS  AT  VICKSBURG — A  SPY  AND  AN 

ATTEMPTED  SURPRISE 95 

X. — RETURN  DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI — PASSING  NATCHEZ — A  ROSE  IN 

THE  DESERT 104 

XI. — ON  BOARD  THE  HARRIET  LANE — COCKPIT  BATTERY — STANDING 
BY  THE  COUNTRY'S  FLAG — LEE,  FIRST  LIEUTENANT  OF  THE 
HARRIET  LANE — His  SENSE  OF  DUTY — SLAUGHTER  ON  BOARD 

— HAVOC  OF  REVOLUTIONS 108 

XII. — IN  WASHINGTON — SCENE  AT  A  NEWPORT,  R.  I.,  CLUB — SLAN 
DERED  BY  A  WOMAN — INDIGNITIES  TO  GENERAL  STONE — VISIT 
TO  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN — MR.  SEWARD — APPOINTED  TO  COM 
MAND  THE  MISSISSIPPI  SQUADRON — GENERAL  MCCLERNAND  .  114 


250854 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAOB 

XIII. — INTERVIEW  WITH  GENERAL  GRANT  AT  CAIRO — FIRST  MEETING 
WITH  GENERAL  SHERMAN — OUR  FLAG  HOISTED  OVER  ARKAN 
SAS  POST — GENERAL  GRANT  AND  THE  SIEGE  OF  VICKSBURG — 
HOAX  ON  THE  VlCKSBURGERS  . 124 

XIV. — GENERAL  GRANT'S  PLANS  FOR  TAKING  VICKSBURG — THE  YAZOO 
PASS  EXPEDITION — NAVAL  EVOLUTIONS  IN  THE  WOODS — PILES 
OF  COTTON  BURNED  BY  THE  CONFEDERATES — MR.  TUB,  THE 
TELEGRAM-WIRE  MAN — THE  PASS  AT  ROLLING  FORK — END  OF 

THE  STEELE  BAYOU  EXPEDITION 136 

XV. — A  COUNCIL  OF  WAR— PASSAGE  OF  THE  FLEET  BY  THE  BAT 
TERIES  OF  VICKSBURG — GENERAL  SHERMAN  VISITS  THE  FLEET 
IN  ITS  PASSAGE — WOODEN  GUNS  ON  CART-WHEELS — A  HAND 
FUL  OF  CORN  AND  A  DEAD  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER  .  .  .  174 

XVI. — NAVAL  BATTLE  AT  GRAND  GULF — THREE  COMMISSIONERS  FROM 
WASHINGTON  TO  EXAMINE  INTO  THE  CONDUCT  OF  AFFAIRS — 
ONE  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS  IN  A  "LONG  SHIRT" — TAR  AND 
FEATHERS — LANDING  OF  THE  ARMY  AT  BRUENSBURG — AMUS 
ING    STORY   OF   AN   IOWA   REGIMENT — FIRST    MEETING   WITH 
GENERAL  A.  J.  SMITH — A  CONFEDERATE  RAM  ....     180 

XVII.— SIEGE  OF  VICKSBURG       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .        .    188 

XVIII. — A  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  AND  A  CHIEF  COOK — DEMOCRATIC  MEETING 

IN  THE  BACKWOODS  OF  "EGYPT" — A  JOHN  GILPIN  RACE        .    201 

XIX. — SHERMAN  STARTS  FROM  MEMPHIS  TO  GO  TO  CHATTANOOGA — FINDS 
A  THIRTY-POUND  SHOT  IN  HIS  STOMACH — THE  NAVY  RELIEVE 
HIM — BRIDGES   AND   FERRY-BOATS   IN  ABUNDANCE — REACHES 
CHATTANOOGA  IN  TIME         .  .       .       .       .       .       .    208 

XX. — WHO  STARTED  THE  RED  RIVER  EXPEDITION  ? — JAPHET  IN  SEARCH 
OF  A  FATHER — GENERAL  A.  J.  SMITH  MAKES  A  FORCED  MARCH 
OF  THIRTY-TWO  MILES — CAPTURES  FORT  DE  RUSSY — SECOND 
CAPTURE  OF  ALEXANDRIA — GENERAL  BANKS  ARRIVES  IN  HIS 
HEADQUARTERS  BOAT,  BLACK  HAWK — CHAMPAGNE  AND  COT 
TON  BAGGING — A  DERELICT  HOSPITAL  STEWARD — A  REVIEW 
OF  "  RAGGED  GUERRILLAS  " — A.  J.  SMITH'S  SOLDIERS  CRITICISE 
BANKS'S  ARMY — TEARS  WON'T  MAKE  SOUP,  CHICKEN  WILL — I 
HOPE  YOU  ENJOY  YOURSELF  ON  MY  HORSE — MRS.  HOLMES 
GIVES  THE  ADMIRAL  A  GOOD  CHARACTER — MRS.  HOLMES'S 
STORY  ABOUT  THE  COTTON  TRADE — THE  NAVY  BECOMES  DE 
MORALIZED — BLOCKED  OUT  AT  SHREVEPORT  RIVER — GUN-BOATS 
TURN  BACK  IN  THEIR  TRACKS — BANKS  DEFEATED — THE  NAVY 
DEFEATS  GENERAL  GREEN'S  ARMY — THE  GENERAL'S  HEAD 
SHOT  OFF — A  HORSE  WITH  A  HEADLESS  RIDER — SAFE  AR 
RIVAL  AT  GRAND  ECORE — BANKS  BORN  UNDER  A  LUCKY 
STAR 212 

XXI. — THE  ARMY  PROPOSE  TO  MOVE  AWAY  FROM  GRAND  ECORE — SINK 
ING  OF  THE  EASTPORT — PUMP  HER  UP — EASTPORT  BLOWN  UP 
— THE  CRICKET  COMES  TO  GRIEF — GUN-BOAT  FLEET  CAUGHT 
IN  A  DILEMMA — PROVIDENCE  SUPPLIES  THE  MAN  TO  RELIEVE 
THEM — A  Row  WITH  A  MILITARY  GOVERNOR  ....  288 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER  PAQB 

XXII. — TAKE  COMMAND  OF  NORTH  ATLANTIC  SQUADRON — RENEW  AN 
OLD  ACQUAINTANCE — A  VISIT  FROM  GENERAL  BUTLER — THE 
GENERAL'S  FLAG-SHIP  BLOWN  UP — SAVE  THE  GENERAL  FROM 
A  DUCKING — THE  GENERAL  VISITS  THE  MALVERN  WITH  A 
PLAN  OF  POWDER-BOAT  TO  BLOW  UP  FORT  FISHER — AN  EN 
SIGN  SETS  THE  PLAN  TO  Music  AND  RHYME — A  STEAMER  AND 
ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  TONS  OF  POWDER  REQUIRED  TO 
DO  THE  WORK — THE  ADMIRAL,  IN  THE  EXCITEMENT  OF  THE 
MOMENT,  TELEGRAPHS  FOR  FIFTEEN  THOUSAND  TONS  OF  POW 
DER — THE  CHIEF  OF  BUREAU  OF  ORDNANCE  OFFERS  HIM  MOUNT 
VESUVIUS  AND  NIAGARA  FALLS  TO  DO  THE  WORK  WITH — THE 
POWDER-BOAT  DISTURBS  THE  SENTINELS  AT  FORT  FISHER — 
FORT  FISHER  DOES  NOT  BLOW  UP  WORTH  A  CENT — A  TRAP 
SET  FOR  BLOCKADE-RUNNERS — AN  IRISH  TORPEDO-BOAT — FALL 

OF  WILMINGTON 261 

XXIII. — THE  PRESIDENT  VISITS  CITY  POINT — BECOMES  A  GUEST  ON  THE 
MALVERN — ANXIETY  TO  HAVE  THE  ARMY  MOVE  ON  THE  ENE 
MY'S  WORKS — Two  MIRACLES — EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG — 
THREE  LITTLE  KITTENS — PRESIDENT  REFUSES  TO  SEE  VICE- 
PRESIDENT  JOHNSON  AND  PRESTON  KING — How  MUCH  WILL 
You  TAKE  FOR  THAT  TRICK  \ — VISIT  TO  PETERSBURG — THREE 
CHEERS  FOR  UNCLE  ABE — CAN'T  WE  MAKE  A  NOISE? — FOUR 
CONFEDERATE  IRONCLADS  BLOWN  UP — THE  PRESIDENT  VISITS 
RICHMOND — AN  OVATION  WORTHY  OF  AN  EMPEROR — A  NEGRO 
PATRIARCH — ENTRANCE  INTO  RICHMOND — A  BOUQUET  OF  FLOW 
ERS  FROM  A  PRETTY  GIRL — PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  IN  PRESIDENT 
DAVIS'S  MANSION — RETURN  ON  BOARD  THE  MALVERN — A  VISIT 

FROM     THE     LATE     JUSTICE     CAMPBELL — A     VlSIT     FROM     DUFF 

GREEN — COMPLICATIONS — RETURN  TO  CITY  POINT — A  GENERAL 

WHO   WENT   OFF   IN   A   FlZZLE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .      281 

XXIV. — GENERAL  SHERMAN  ARRIVES  AT  GOLDSBORO' — SHERMAN  CALLS 
ON  THE  PRESIDENT — COUNCIL  ON  BOARD  THE  RIVER  QUEEN — 
PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  KIND  INTENTIONS  TOWARD  THE  CONFED 
ERATE  ARMIES — LET  THEM  HAVE  THEIR  HORSES  TO  PLOW 

WITH,  AND   THEIR    MUSKETS    TO    SHOOT   CROWS   WITH — "THERE 

ARE  NO  SOUTHERN  RAILROADS;  MY  BUMMERS  HAVE  TAKEN 
THEM  ALL  UP " — WHY  SUCH  A  HOWL  AT  THE  NORTH  I — LEE 
SURRENDERS — THE  PRESIDENT  RETURNS  TO  WASHINGTON — SEND 
OFFICERS  WITH  HIM  TO  PROTECT  HIS  PERSON — His  DEATH — 
THERE  LIES  THE  BEST  MAN  I  EVER  KNEW  ....  312 
XXV.— CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG  .  320 


INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES 
OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BEJOICINGS     IN"     WASHINGTON     AT    THE     SECESSION     OF     SOUTH 

CAKOLIKA. 


the  Presidency  of  James  Buchanan,  and  just  previous 
to  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  was  ordered  to  the  command 
of  the  Coast-Survey  steamer  Active  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

I  could  not  conceive  why  I  was  thus  ordered,  except  that  ships 
and  officers  were  at  that  period  being  sent  out  of  the  way.  This, 
too,  at  a  time  when  the  Southern  States  were  threatening  to  secede, 
and  it  seemed  probable  the  Government  would  require  the  services 
of  all  its  officers  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 

At  that  moment  I  was  in  a  despondent  frame  of  mind,  and 
troubled  with  the  most  gloomy  forebodings.  I  felt  that  a  crisis  was 
impending  that  might  influence  all  my  prospects  in  life  and  cast 
me  upon  the  world  without  resources  and  with  a  large  dependent 
family. 

I  sought  consolation  by  visiting  the  houses  of  Southern  members 
of  Congress  in  Washington  whom  I  knew,  but  obtained  little  satis 
faction  from  the  sentiments  I  there  heard  expressed. 

One  night  in  December,  1860,  on  my  way  home  from  a  visit  to 
Congress,  where  I  had  listened  to  a  great  deal  of  incendiary  lan 
guage  from  Southern  members  and  plenty  of  vituperation  from 
Northern  ones,  a  gentleman  met  me  in  the  street  and  informed  me 
of  the  secession  of  South  Carolina. 

The  news,  though  not  unexpected,  was  startling,  and,  viewing 


8        INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  matter  in  the  most  philosophical  light  possible,  I  proceeded 
homeward  to  carry  the  unpleasant  intelligence. 

On  my  way  I  had  to  pass  the  house  of  a  distinguished  Southern 
gentleman  whom  I  knew  well  and  for  whom  I  entertained  a  high 
regard.  I  had  always  heard  him  discuss  the  questions  at  issue  be 
tween  the  North  and  South  in  the  most  dispassionate  manner,  what 
ever  may  have  been  his  course  in  Congress. 

There  were  a  dozen  carriages  standing  before  the  door,  and  the 
house  was  all  ablaze  with  lights,  making  the  interior  look  cheerful 
enough,  while  a  drizzling  rain  rendered  everything  gloomy  without. 
Those  were  not  the  days  of  well-lighted  streets  and  asphalt  pave 
ments.  Washington  was  a  city  of  muddy  highways,  and  corpora 
tion  moonlight  was  more  frequent  than  convenient. 

As  I  entered  the  mansion  the  lady  of  the  house,  in  bonnet  and 
shawl,  was  descending  the  stairs.  She  was  a  magnificent  woman, 
greatly  esteemed  in  Washington  society  for  her  genial  manner,  and 
admired  for  her  wit  and  intellect.  Had  she  aspired  to  do  so,  this 
lady  might  have  been  the  leader  of  fashion  in  the  Federal  capital, 
but  I  do  not  think  her  ambition  ran  in  that  direction.  She  had  a 
small  and  select  circle  of  friends,  mostly  Southern  people,  and  chiefly 
affected  politics. 

Her  heart  was  fixed  on  what  she  called  the  emancipation  of  the 
South  from  Northern  thralldom,  and  with  her  handsome  person  and 
dignified  bearing  she  seemed  worthy  to  occupy  the  loftiest  position. 

As  this  lady  saw  me  she  exclaimed,  "  Ah,  captain" — for  so  she 
always  called  me — "  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you  !  I  want  you  to  escort 
me  to  the  White  House.  The  horses  are  sick,  and  I  am  going  to 
walk  over." 

"It  is  impossible  for  you  to  walk,"  I  replied,  "through  the  rain 
and  mud  ;  but  there  are  ten  or  twelve  hacks  at  the  door,  and  I  will 
press  one  of  them  into  your  service."  So  saying,  I  called  a  carriage, 
helped  the  lady  in,  and  got  in  after  her. 

"I  was  under  the  impression,"  I  said,  as  we  started,  "that  you 
were  having  a  party  at  your  house,  seeing  it  so  brilliantly  lighted 
up,  and  I  thought  I  would  venture  in  uninvited." 

"No,  indeed,"  she  replied,  "but  we  have  received  glorious  news 
from  the  South,  and  my  husband's  friends  are  calling  to  congratu 
late  him.  South  Carolina  has  seceded,  and,  0  captain  !  "  she  con 
tinued,  with  increasing  fervor,  "we  will  have  a  glorious  monarchy, 
and  you  must  join  us  ! " 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "and  be  made  Duke  of  Benedict  Arnold." 


WASHINGTON   BEFORE   THE   REBELLION.  9 

"Nonsense!"  she  exclaimed,  "but  we  will  make  you  an  ad 
miral." 

"Certainly,"  I  replied,  "Admiral  of  the  Blue,  for  I  should  feel 
blue  enough  to  see  everything  turned  upside  down,  and  our  boasted 
liberty  and  civilization  whistled  down  the  wind." 

"What  would  you  have?"  she  inquired.  "Would  you  have 
us  tamely  submit  to  all  the  indignities  the  North  have  put  upon  us, 
and  place  our  necks  under  their  feet  ?  Why,  this  very  day  my 
blood  fairly  boiled  while  I  was  in  Congress,  and  I  could  scarcely 

contain  myself.    That  old  Black  Republican,  Mr. ,  was  berating 

the  Southern  people  as  if  they  were  a  pack  of  naughty  children. 
However,  I  was  indemnified  in  the  end,  for  Mr.  Rhett  took  the 
floor  and  gave  the  man  such  a  castigation  that  he  slunk  away  and 
was  no  more  heard  from.  We  can  stand  these  outrages  no  longer, 
and  will  take  refuge  in  a  monarchy — a  glorious  monarchy  !  " 

"Of  course  you  will  be  queen,"  I  said.  "Well,  I  should  be 
happy  to  serve  under  such  a  beautiful  majesty,  but  somehow  I  like 
this  homely  republicanism  under  which  I  have  been  brought  up, 
and  so  I  will  stick  to  it ;  but  don't  repeat  to  others  what  you  have 
said  to  me,  for  it  might  compromise  your  husband." 

"Ah,"  she  exclaimed,  "he  thinks  as  I  do  !  " 

Just  then  we  reached  the  White  House.  I  helped  the  lady  from 
the  carriage  and  escorted  her  into  the  great  hall.  I  proposed  to 
take  my  leave,  but  she  insisted  on  my  remaining,  saying,  "I  want 
to  tell  the  President  the  good  news." 

Heavens  and  earth  !  thought  I,  what  will  happen  next  ?  "No, 
thank  you,"  I  said,  "I  will  take  some  other  opportunity  to  see  the 
President,"  and,  taking  my  leave  of  the  lady,  I  went  out  and  never 
saw  her  afterward. 

I  rode  back  to  the  house  to  return  the  borrowed  carriage,  and, 
when  I  reached  the  door,  heard  sounds  of  merriment  issuing  from 
the  mansion,  and  was  induced  to  step  into  the  parlor. 

As  I  entered  I  was  welcomed  with  boisterous  shouts  by  a  dozen 
gentlemen,  only  two  of  whom  I  had  ever  met  before.  They  em 
braced  me,  and  insisted  on  my  drinking  with  them,  but  this  I  de 
clined,  thinking  there  had  been  too  much  drinking  already. 

I  can  only  compare  the  scene  to  Pandemonium. 

"  The  people  all  acted  like  the  jacks  at  the  Nore, 
And  ran  the  Palmetto  flag  up  to  the  fore, 
"Where  all  ranted  and  raved,  and  their  language,  O  dear! 
Was  so  full  of  billingsgate  'twas  shocking  to  hear. 


10      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Cooney  and  lawyer,  politician  and  sage, 
And  the  craziest  men  of  the  palmetto  age, 

With  defiant  looks, 

Full  of  crotchets  and  crooks, 
Were  chafing  and  swearing  and  scowling  so  black 
As  hosts  sometimes  do  when  the  dinner's  put  back. 
Yet  few  of  the  folks  at  that  chivalric  fair 
Seemed  willing  to  think — nor  a  curse  did  they  care — 
That  a  sword  hung  over  them  just  by  a  hair. 
Old  Clootie  was  there,  and  said  all  was  right ; 
'Twas  he  held  the  bottle,  and  urged  on  the  fight, 

And  stood  up  in  his  place, 

With  his  stoical  face, 

His  hands  meekly  folded,  as  if  he'd  say  grace, 
While  Rebellion  was  moving  at  an  awful  fast  pace." 

The  only  person  who  seemed  to  preserve  his  equanimity  was  the 
master  of  the  house,  who  sat,  calm  and  smiling,  conversing  with  an 
uproarious  friend  who  had  partaken  deeply  of  the  flowing  bowl. 

When  I  had  an  opportunity  I  asked  the  host  quietly  if  there  was 
anything  in  this  excitement,  and  if  it  could  be  possible  that  the 
Southern  States  would  secede.  "What  more  do  they  want?"  I 
inquired.  "  They  have  a  majority  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House, 
and,  with  the  Supreme  Court  on  their  side,  they  can  make  laws  to 
suit  themselves." 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  his  bright  eye  almost  looking  through  me, 
"most  people  would  be  satisfied  with  that. 

"  *  Better  to  suffer  from  the  ills  we  have, 
Than  fly  to  others  that  we  wot  not  of.' 

"But  you  will  join  us,"  he  continued,  "  and  we  will  make  you 
an  admiral." 

"Thank  you,"  said  I,  "but  I  am  going  to  the  California  gold 
mines,  and  when  the  South  and  the  North  have  done  quarreling, 
and  all  you  seceders  have  come  back  and  taken  your  seats  in  Con 
gress,  I  will  join  the  navy  again." 

"You  must  join  us"  he  said,  "for  we  will  have  a  navy  to  be 
proud  of." 

A  few  weeks  later  my  friends  left  Washington  for  the  South, 
regretted  by  all  who  knew  them.  Their  house  had  been  the  ren 
dezvous  of  the  most  brilliant  and  refined  persons  at  the  capital. 
The  clever  women  of  the  South  met  there  to  discuss  the  prospects 


WASHINGTON   BEFORE   THE   REBELLION.  H 

of  a  Southern  confederacy  or  monarchy,  and  to  urge  on  their  slow- 
moving  husbands  in  what  they  considered  the  path  of  duty. 

These  ladies  saw  in  the  distance  the  gleam  of  the  coronets  that 
were  to  encircle  their  fair  brows,  and  certainly  none  were  more  fitted, 
by  the  graces  of  mind  and  person,  to  wear  them  than  the  beautiful 
Southern  women  who  formed  the  bright  galaxy  of  stars  in  Wash 
ington  society. 

As  to  the  lady  whom  I  accompanied  to  the  White  House,  she 
shone,  like  Venus,  brighter  than  all  the  other  planets,  and  her  de 
parture  cast  a  gloom  over  the  firesides  of  the  friends  she  left  behind 
in  Washington,  soon  to  be  overshadowed  by  the  stirring  scenes  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war — the  tramp  of  legions  of  soldiers 
through  quiet  streets  where,  since  the  rebuilding  of  the  Capitol,  had 
been  heard  nothing  more  stirring  than 

"  Sounds  of  revelry  by  night," 

or  the  simple  pageants  which  accompanied  the  President  to  and 
from  the  Capitol  at  the  quadrennial  inauguration. 

No  wonder  the  capital  and  its  surroundings  seemed  stupid  to 
these  vivacious  Southerners,  and  that  their  hearts  were  not  satisfied 
with  our  plain  republican  trappings. 

An  opera-house  or  two,  half  a  dozen  fine  theatres,  and  a  court, 
or  the  semblance  of  one,  at  the  White  House — something  more  in 
the  style  of  the  present  day — might  have  prevented  the  catastrophe 
which  overwhelmed  both  North  and  South. 

The  Komans  understood  these  things  better  than  we.  They 
omitted  nothing  to  keep  the  people  amused  ;  they  even  had  the 
street  fountains  at  times  run  with  wine,  and  the  investment  was 
worth  the  money  spent. 

But  what  could  one  expect  at  a  court  presided  over  by  an  old 
bachelor  whose  heart  was  dead  to  poetry  and  love  ;  who  sat  at  din 
ner  with  no  flowers  to  grace  the  festive  board,  and  never  even  wore 
a  loutonniere  on  his  coat-lapel ;  who  eschewed  everything  like  offi 
cial  state,  and  was  content  to  live  out  his  term  of  office  in  plain 
republican  simplicity  ? 

What  was  there  to  attract  charming,  women  to  an  administra 
tion  like  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  conducted  with  even  more  sim 
plicity  than  that  of  his  predecessor,  and  only  to  be  appreciated  by 
sturdy  republicans  that  despised  all  the  vanities  of  a  court  and 
took  no  stock  in  monarchy  ? 


12      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

Barren  and  dreary  as  the  fair  Southerners  left  the  city  of  "Wash 
ington — to  which  they  intended  to  return  when  a  Southern  court 
should  be  established — it  has  since  risen  from  its  ashes  like  a  Phoe 
nix,  and  blooms  as  it  never  did  before. 

The  angels  of  heaven  smile  serenely  over  the  happy  meeting 
of  those  who  did  all  they  could  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  each  other's 
blood,  but  she  who  once  moved  radiant  amid  the  throng  is  still  ab 
sent  from  the  Federal  capital. 

"  She  was  superb — at  least  so  she  was  thirty  summers  ago — 
As  soft  and  as  sallow  as  autumn,  with  hair 
Neither  black  nor  yet  brown,  but  that  tint  which  the  air 
Takes  at  eve  in  September,  when  night  lingers  lone 
Through  a  vineyard,  from  beams  of  a  slow-setting  sun ; 
Eyes  the  wistful  gazelle's,  the  fine  foot  of  a  fairy, 
A  voice  soft  and  sweet  as  a  tune  that  one  knows. 
Something  in  her  there  was  set  you  to  thinking  of  those 
Strange  backgrounds  of  Raphael,  that  hectic  and  deep 
Brief  twilight  in  which  Southern  suns  fall  asleep. 
Thou  abidest  and  reignest  forever,  O  Queen 
Of  that  better  world  which  thou  swayest  unseen." 

It  is  not  my  intention  at  this  late  day  to  reflect  upon  the  mo 
tives  of  those  whose  acts  brought  about  such  desolation.  Let  them 
rest  in  peace,  and  may  the  future  bring  back  to  us  those  who  once 
formed  the  most  refined  and  delightful  society  at  the  capital. 

They  will  find  the  Federal  city  improved  and  beautified,  ready  to 
receive  them  with  warm  hearts  and  friendly  greetings.  The  capital 
will  smile  as  of  yore  when  the  bright  galaxy  of  Southern  ladies 
which  once  illumined  its  halls  again  take  their  places  in  a  society 
they  are  so  well  fitted  to  adorn. 

And  those  clever  men  of  the  South — the  successors  of  the  great 
statesmen  who  played  such  a  prominent  part  in  oar  early  history — 
may  they  realize  the  task  before  them  of  reconstructing  their  sev 
eral  States  and  making  their  people  feel  that  we  all  belong  to  one 
country,  which,  if  united,  can  be  made  the  grandest  in  the  world. 


INTERVIEW  WITH  MR,   SEWARD.  13 


CHAPTER  II. 

PLAN  TO  SAVE  FORT  PICKENS — DISLOYALTY  IN  THE  NAVY  DE 
PARTMENT — STEALING  A  MARCH  ON  THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE 
NAVY. 

MR.  LINCOLN  had  been  installed  in  the  Presidential  office,  and 
the  subject  of  relieving  Fort  Sumter  was  under  discussion.  A 
small  squadron  was  being  fitted  out  for  the  supposed  purpose  of 
relieving  the  fort,  the  final  action  of  which  was  to  be  guided  by 
Mr.  G.  V.  Fox,  afterward  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

My  orders  to  California  were  still  hanging  over  me,  and  I  had 
even  engaged  my  passage  in  the  steamer  from  New  York,  and  was 
taking  my  last  meal  with  my  family,  when  a  carriage  drove  up  to 
the  door. 

It  brought  a  note  from  the  Secretary  of  State  (Mr.  Seward),  re 
questing  me  to  call  and  see  him  without  delay ;  so,  leaving  my  din 
ner  unfinished,  I  jumped  into  the  carriage  and  drove  at  once  to  the 
Secretary's  office. 

I  found  Mr.  Seward  lying  on  his  back  on  a  sofa,  with  his  knees 
up,  reading  a  lengthy  document. 

Without  changing  his  position  he  said  to  me,  "  Can  you  tell  me 
how  we  can  save  Fort  Pickens  from  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
rebels?" 

I  answered,  promptly,  "I  can,  sir." 

"  Then,"  said  the  Secretary,  "  you  are  the  man  I  want,  if  you 
can  do  it." 

"  I  can  do  it,"  I  said,  as  Mr.  Seward  rose  to  his  feet. 

Those  familiar  with  the  history  of  that  period  will  remember 
that  Lieutenant  Slemmer  was  holding  Fort  Pickens  with  a  small 
force  and  had  refused  the  summons  of  General  Bragg  to  surrender, 
and  all  the  naval  guns  and  munitions  of  war  that  had  fallen  into 
the  Confederates'  hands  were  being  placed  in  position  behind  earth 
works,  preparatory  to  opening  on  the  Union  lines. 

It  was  to  save  Slemmer  and  the  Union  works  that  made  Mr, 
Seward  so  interested  in  this  affair. 

"Now,  come,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "tell  me  how  you  will  save 
that  place." 

I  had  talked  with  Captain  (now  General)  Meigs  a  few  days  be- 


14      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

fore  about  this  matter.  That  officer  broached  the  subject  to  me, 
and  it  appears  first  suggested  the  matter  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  the 
latter,  being  anxious  to  show  the  Southerners  that  the  Government 
had  a  right  to  hold  its  own  forts,  and  seeing  the  likelihood  of  our 
losing  Fort  Sumter,  listened  very  kindly  to  Captain  Meigs's  sugges 
tions. 

Our  plan  was  to  get  a  good-sized  steamer  and  six  or  seven  com 
panies  of  soldiers,  and  to  carry  the  latter,  with  a  number  of  large 
guns  and  a  quantity  of  munitions  of  war,  to  Fort  Pickens,  land 
them  on  the  outside  of  the  fort  under  the  guns  of  a  ship  of  war, 
and  the  fort  would  soon  be  made  impregnable — that  was  all. 

I  repeated  this  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  said  to  him,  "  Give  me 
command  of  the  Powhatan,  now  lying  at  New  York  ready  for  sea, 
and  I  will  guarantee  that  everything  shall  be  done  without  a  mis 
take." 

Mr.  Seward  listened  attentively,  and,  when  I  had  finished  what 
I  had  to  say,  he  invited  Captain  Meigs — who  had  come  in  in  the 
mean  time — and  myself  to  accompany  him  to  the  President. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  White  House,  Mr.  Lincoln — who 
seemed  to  be  aware  of  our  errand — opened  the  conversation. 

"  Tell  me,"  said  he,  "  how  we  can  prevent  Fort  Pickens  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  for  if  Slemmer  is  not  at  once 
relieved  there  will  be  no  holding  it.  Pensacola  would  be  a  very 
important  place  for  the  Southerners,  and  if  they  once  get  posses 
sion  of  Pickens,  and  fortify  it,  we  have  no  navy  to  take  it  from 
them." 

"  Mr.  President,"  said  I,  "  there  is  a  queer  state  of  things  ex 
isting  in  the  Navy  Department  at  this  time.  Mr.  Welles  is  sur 
rounded  by  officers  and  clerks,  some  of  whom  are  disloyal  at  heart, 
and  if  the  orders  for  this  expedition  should  emanate  from  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  pass  through  all  the  department  red 
tape,  the  news  would  be  at  once  flashed  over  the  wires,  and  Fort 
Pickens  would  be  lost  for  ever.  But  if  you  will  issue  all  the  or 
ders  from  the  Executive  Mansion,  and  let  me  proceed  to  New  York 
with  them,  I  will  guarantee  their  prompt  execution  to  the  letter." 

"But,"  said  the  President,  "is  not  this  a  most  irregular  mode 
of  proceeding  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  I  replied,  "  but  the  necessity  of  the  case  justi 
fies  it." 

"  You  are  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,"  said  Mr. 
Seward  to  the  President,  "  and  this  is  a  case  where  it  is  necessary 


MR.  SEWARD   TAKES  THE   INITIATIVE.  15 

to  issue  direct  orders  without  passing  them  through  intermedia 
ries." 

"  But  what  will  Uncle  Gideon  say  ?  "  inquired  the  President. 

"  Oh,  I  will  make  it  all  right  with  Mr.  Welles,"  said  the  Secre 
tary  of  State.  "  This  is  the  only  way,  sir,  the  thing  can  be  done." 

At  this  very  time  Mr.  Welles  was — or  supposed  he  was — fitting 
out  an  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Sumter.  All  the  orders 
were  issued  in  the  usual  way,  and,  of  course,  telegraphed  to  Charles 
ton,  as  soon  as  written,  by  the  persons  in  the  department  through 
whose  hands  they  passed. 

Mr.  Seward  was  well  aware  of  this,  and  he  wanted  to  prevent 
such  a  thing  happening  in  this  instance. 

Mr.  Welles,  no  doubt,  had  the  Powhatan  on  his  list  of  available 
vessels,  and  may  have  relied  on  her  to  carry  out  his  plan  for  the 
relief  of  Sumter.  Orders  had  been  sent  for  the  several  vessels  to 
rendezvous  off  Charleston  on  a  certain  day,  but,  strange  to  say,  no 
orders  had  been  issued  for  the  Powhatan  to  join  them,  for  reasons 
that  will  appear  in  the  course  of  my  narrative. 

I  observed  one  thing  during  this  interview,  and  that  was  that 
the  best  of  feeling  did  not  exist  between  the  heads  of  the  State 
and  Navy  Departments.  Mr.  Seward  doubtless  thought  that  he 
had  not  been  as  much  consulted  as  he  ought  to  have  been  in  the 
fitting  out  of  the  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Sumter.  He  looked 
upon  himself  as  Prime  Minister,  and  considered  that  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  should  defer  to  him  in  all  matters  concerning  move 
ments  against  those  in  rebellion,  in  which  opinion  Mr.  Welles  did 
not  concur.  Mr.  Seward  was  by  nature  of  an  arbitrary  disposi 
tion,  and  wanted  everything  done  in  his  own  way — not  a  bad  qual 
ity  on  occasions,  but  apt  to  create  confusion  if  persevered  in  in 
too  many  cases. 

In  this  instance  it  was  eminently  proper  that  the  Secretary  of 
State  should  take  the  initiative. 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked  : 
"  This  looks  to  me  very  much  like  the  case  of  two  fellows  I  once 
knew  :  one  was  a  gambler,  the  other  a  preacher.  They  met  in  a 
stage,  and  the  gambler  induced  the  preacher  to  play  poker,  and  the 
latter  won  all  the  gambler's  money.  'It's  all  because  we  have 
mistaken  our  trades,'  said  the  gambler ;  ( you  ought  to  have  been  a 
gambler  and  I  a  preacher,  and,  by  ginger,  I  intend  to  turn  the  ta 
bles  on  you  next  Sunday  and  preach  in  your  church/  which  he 
did." 


16      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

It  was  finally  agreed  that  my  plan  should  be  carried  out.  I 
wrote  the  necessary  orders,  which  were  copied  by  Captain  Meigs 
and  signed  by  the  President,  who  merely  said  as  he  did  so,-"  Sew- 
ard,  see  that  I  don't  burn  my  fingers." 

The  first  order  was  for  me  to  proceed  to  New  York  and  take 
command  of  the  steam  frigate  Powhatan,  proceed  at  once  to  Fort 
Pickens,  run  across  the  bar  and  anchor  at  all  hazards  on  the  in 
side,  where  I  could  cover  the  fort  and  co-operate  with  Captain 
Meigs  while  he  was  landing  the  troops,  which  were  to  go  in  a 
steamer  chartered  for  the  occasion. 

The  second  order  was  for  the  commandant  of  the  New  York 
navy-yard,  directing  him  to  fit  out  the  Powhatan  with  all  dis 
patch  and  with  the  greatest  secrecy,  and  under  no  circumstances 
to  inform  the  Navy  Department  until  after  the  ship  had  sailed. 

The  third  order  was  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  Pow 
hatan,  informing  him  that  circumstances  required  that  the  utmost 
dispatch  and  secrecy  should  be  observed  in  fitting  out  the  ship,  and 
that  it  was  necessary  for  the  President  to  confide  the  execution  of 
his  plans  to  some  one  who  understood  them  thoroughly,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  carried  out ;  that  for  this  reason  he  was  com 
pelled  to  detach  Captain  Mercer  from  the  command  of  the  Powhat 
an,  but  that,  having  the  highest  confidence  in  his  abilities  and  pa 
triotism,  the  President  gave  him  the  option  to  select  any  other  ship 
in  the  navy,  etc. 

Armed  with  these  documents,  I  bade  the  President  good-day, 
and,  in  company  with  Captain  Meigs,  proceeded  to  the  headquar 
ters  of  the  General-in-Chief,  General  Scott,  then  the  military  ora 
cle,  without  whose  authority  no  troops  would  have  been  granted. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Keyes  was  at  that  time  General  Scott's 
Military  Secretary,  and  when  we  called  on  the  general  he  showed 
us  into  the  anteroom,  where  Meigs  unfolded  to  him  our  plans  and 
instructions,  requesting  that  the  general  would  grant  us  an  audi 
ence  as  soon  as  possible. 

When  Keyes  delivered  the  message,  General  Scott  gruffly  in 
quired  what  we  wanted,  and,  when  informed,  said,  "  Tell  Captain 
Meigs  to  walk  in  ;  I  won't  see  any  naval  officer  ;  lie  can't  come  in." 

The  fact  was,  the  general  at  that  moment  was  suffering  from  a 
severe  attack  of  gout,  which  made  him  unwilling  to  see  anybody 
outside  of  his  military  family. 

Captain  Meigs  shortly  rejoined  me  in  the  anteroom.  With 
the  aid  of  Keyes,  he  had  succeeded  in  getting  the  general  to  give 


..  I  PRESENT  MY  ORDERS  TO  CAPTAIN  FOOTE.        17 

him  the  desired  force  of  troops  for  the  relief  of  Pickens,  and  we 
therefore  departed  to  carry  out  the  plans. 

Next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  I  was  at  the  New  York  navy- 
yard,  and  found  that  Commodore  Breese,  the  commandant,  was 
absent  on  a  two  weeks'  leave,  and  that  Captain  A.  H.  Foote  was  in 
command.  This  was  a  fortunate  circumstance,  for  if  I  had  to  deal 
with  Commodore  Breese  I  should  have  experienced  no  end  of  trouble 
in  keeping  the  expedition  secret.  Breese  was  a  particularly  "cau 
tious  man,"  a  by-word  in  the  navy  to  express  a  lack  of  the  higher 
qualities,  and  he  would  have  eventually  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag, 
or  insisted  on  telegraphing  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  for  orders, 
notwithstanding  the  President's  instructions.  It  is  hard  to  get  an 
old  officer  out  of  a  groove  in  which  he  has  been  running  for  many 
years,  and  this  way  of  carrying  on  operations  would  have  seemed 
altogether  wrong  to  a  man  of  Commodore  Breese's  way  of  think 
ing. 

As  it  was,  I  had  trouble  enough  with  Foote  to  bring  him  to  rea 
son,  and  it  was  only  after  three  hours'  earnest  conversation  that  I 
convinced  him  I  was  not  a  rebel  in  disguise  plotting  with  the  Pow- 
hatan's  officers  to  run  away  with  the  ship,  and  deliver  her  over  to 
the  South. 

"You  see,  Porter,"  he  said,  "there  are  so  many  fellows  whom 
I  would  have  trusted  to  the  death  who  have  deserted  the  flag  that 
I  don't  know  whom  to  believe."  He  read  my  orders  over  and  over, 
turned  them  upside  down,  examined  the  water-mark  and  Executive 
Mansion  stamp,  and  surveyed  me  from  head  to  foot.  "  How  do  I 
know  you  are  not  a  traitor  ?  Who  ever  heard  of  such  orders  as  these 
emanating  direct  from  the  President  ?  I  must  telegraph  to  Mr. 
Welles  before  I  do  anything,  and  ask  further  instructions." 

"Look  at  these  orders  again,"  I  said,  "and  then  telegraph  at 
your  peril.  Under  no  circumstances  must  you  inform  the  Navy 
Department  of  this  expedition.  Now  give  me  a  cigar,  let  me  sit 
here  in  quiet,  and  you  may  take  an  hour  or  two  to  look  over  those 
letters  if  you  like  ;  but  if  you  telegraph  to  Mr.  Welles  the  President 
will  consider  it  high  treason,  and  you  will  lose  the  best  chance  you 
ever  had  in  your  life.  If  you  must  telegraph,  send  a  message  to 
the  President  or  Mr.  Seward." 

"Yes,"  replied  Foote,  "and  what  would  prevent  you  from  hav 
ing  a  confederate  at  the  other  end  of  the  line  to  receive  the  mes 
sage  and  answer  it — there  is  so  much  treason  going  on  ?  " 

I  burst  out  laughing.  "What  would  you  say,"  I  inquired,  "if 
2 


18      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  were  to  tell  you  that  Frank  Buchanan,  Sam  Barron,  and  Magruder 
were  going  to  desert  to  the  rebels  ?  " 

Foote  jumped  from  his  chair.  "  God  in  heaven  ! "  he  exclaimed, 
"  what  next  ?  You  don't  expect  me  to  trust  you  after  that  ?  How 
do  I  know  you  are  not  in  league  with  the  others  ?  But,  man,  that 
can't  be,  for  I  saw  by  the  morning  papers  that  President  Lincoln 
was  at  a  wedding  last  night  at  Buchanan's,  and  Buchanan  had  the 
house  festooned  with  American  flags,  and  all  the  loyal  men  of  Wash 
ington  were  there." 

"So  they  were,"  I  replied,  "but,  nevertheless,  they  will  all  de 
sert  in  a  few  days,  for  their  hearts  are  on  the  other  side.  Ingraham 
is  going  also — his  chief  clerk  has  already  preceded  him,  and  car 
ried  off  the  signal-book  of  the  navy." 

"Good  Lord  deliver  us  !"  exclaimed  Foote,  piously.  "I  must 
telegraph  to  Mr.  Welles.  I  can't  stand  this  strain  any  longer.  It 
will  kill  me.  You  sit  smoking  and  smiling  as  if  this  was  not  a  very 
serious  matter.  Here  " — to  his  chief  clerk — "bring  me  a  telegraph 
blank." 

"Before  you  send  that  message,"  said  I,  "let  me  call  your  at 
tention  to  a  paragraph  of  the  President's  order  :  '  Under  no  circum 
stances  will  you  make  known  to  the  Navy  Department  or  any  one 
else  the  object  of  this  expedition,  or  the  fact  that  the  Powhatan  is 
fitting  out.'  Just  think,"  I  continued  to  Captain  Foote,  "of  the 
President  taking  you  into  his  confidence  so  early  in  these  troubles  ; 
think  what  a  high  position  you  may  reach  before  the  trouble  with 
the  South  is  over  if  we  succeed  in  carrying  out  this  expedition  suc 
cessfully.  Then,  again,  think  what  a  tumble  you  will  get  if  you 
disobey  a  positive  order  of  the  President.  He  will  believe  rebellion 
rampant  everywhere,  and  won't  know  whom  to  trust.  Think  of 
Captain  Foote  being  tried  and  shot  like  Admiral  Byng  for  failing 
to  carry  out  his  orders. " 

"Hush,  Porter  !"  exclaimed  Foote,  "hush  at  once  !  I  believe 
you  are  a  rebel  in  disguise,  for  after  Frank  Buchanan,  Barron,  and 
Magruder  preparing  to  desert,  and  Ingraham,  too,  with  his  Kosta 
record,  I  won't  trust  any  one.  Where  are  your  trunks  ?  " 

"At  the  Irving  House,"  I  replied. 

"  Send  the  postman  here,"  said  Foote.  When  the  man  came  he 
said  to  him,  "Go  to  the  Irving  House,  pay  Lieutenant  Porter's 
bill,  and  take  his  trunks  to  my  house  and  tell  Mrs.  Foote  to  pre 
pare  the  best  room. — There,  my  boy,  I  have  you  now.  You  shall 
stay  with  me,  and  I  will  be  ready  to  arrest  you  the  moment  I 


CAPTAIN  FOOTE  MUCH   PUZZLED.  19 

find  there  is  any  treason  about  you.  After  all,"  continued  Foote, 
"  you  have  come  on  a  wild-goose  chase.  The  Powhatan  is  stripped 
to  a  girt-line.  Her  engines  are  all  to  pieces,  her  boilers  under  an 
order  of  survey,  her  boats  are  worn  out,  and  the  ship  wants  new 
planking  all  over.  Her  magazines  are  too  damp  to  keep  powder  in, 
and  we  are  pulling  them  all  to  pieces.  She  wants  a  new  fore-yard 
and  painting  throughout.  In  fact,  the  ship  is  worn  out,  and  I  gave 
orders  to  haul  her  into  dock  this  morning  preparatory  to  thorough 
repairs." 

"  So  much  the  better,"  said  I ;  "  she  is  just  the  ship  I  am  look 
ing  for.  Never  mind  paint,  never  mind  repairing  the  boilers,  never 
mind  new  spars,  or  repairs  to  magazines.  I  will  take  her  as  she  is  ; 
only  set  your  people  to  work  and  put  everything  in  place,  and  we 
can  get  off  in  four  days.  I  want  a  ship  that  can  be  sunk  without 
any  great  loss." 

"But,"  said  Foote,  "all  the  Powhatan's  officers  have  been 
granted  leave,  and  her  crew  transferred  to  the  receiving-ship." 

"  Telegraph  the  officers  to  return  at  once,  and  send  the  crew  on 
board  to  rig  and  equip  her,"  I  replied. 

"I  can't  do  that,"  he  said,  "unless  I  telegraph  to  Mr.  "Welles." 

I  repeated  from  the  order  of  the  President,  "Under  no  circum 
stances  will  you  make  known  to  the  Navy  Department  the  object 
of  this  expedition." 

Captain  Foote  was  puzzled.  At  last,  after  considering  the  mat 
ter,  he  said,  "  I  will  trust  you,  though  I  am  utterly  nonplussed ; 
it's  such  a  doubtful  business.  I  will  set  to  work  immediately,  and 
by  night  we  will  have  the  spars  up  and  by  noon  to-morrow  I  will 
have  all  the  officers  back.  Come  home  with  me  now  and  take 
lunch,  and  I  will  give  the  sentry  at  my  house  orders  to  keep  an  eye 
on  you  when  I  return  to  the  office. " 

"And  I  will  return  to  the  office,"  I  replied,  " and  watch  you  to 
see  that  you  don't  telegraph  to  Mr.  Welles.  I  want  to  save  you,  if 
possible,  from  the  fate  of  Admiral  Byng. " 

Foote  laughed  heartily  now  that  the  weight  was  off  his  mind, 
and  he  had  determined  to  carry  out  the  President's  instructions. 
A  double  set  of  men  were  put  on  board  the  Powhatan  with  orders 
to  work  day  and  night  that  the  ship  might  be  ready  in  three  days. 

Captain  Foote  and  myself  sat  up  nearly  all  that  night  talking 
over  this  adventure,  for  Foote  had  now  as  much  interest  in  the 
matter  as  I  had,  and  was  very  enthusiastic  over  the  anticipated  suc 
cess  of  the  expedition. 


20      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

It  was  cold  weather,  and  a  fire  was  burning  in  my  room.  To 
make  things  comfortable,  I  said,  "  Suppose  you  send  for  a  kettle 
of  water,  some  lemons  and  sugar,  and  let  us  have  some  hot 
punch." 

Foote,  although  a  teetotaler,  had  every  kind  of  liquor  in  his 
house  for  the  use  of  his  friends.  "  If  you  ever  tell  anybody,  you  bad 
fellow,"  said  he,  "  that  I  sat  up  with  you  after  midnight  brewing 
punch,  I'll  never  forgive  you." 

But  in  ten  minutes  I  had  brewed  some  whisky-punch  which  I 
thought  admirable.  "  Let  me  make  you  one,"  I  said. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "if  you  will  take  some  hot  water,  lemon 
and  sugar,  and  mix  them  together,  and  put  in  a  very  little  whisky 
f  unbeknownst'  to  me,  I  will  keep  you  company." 

So  there  we  sat  during  the  long  hours  of  the  night,  discussing 
the  future  prospects  of  the  navy,  and  before  daylight  the  captain 
had  given  up  all  idea  of  telegraphing  Mr.  Welles. 

Next  morning  I  accompanied  Foote  to  his  office.  Captain  Mer 
cer  was  sent  for  and  the  President's  letter  read  to  him,  and  he  was 
enjoined  to  secrecy.  Captain  Meigs  also  came  over  and  explained 
the  part  he  was  to  bear  in  the  expedition,  and  informed  Foote  that 
he  had  transcribed  all  the  orders  in  the  President's  presence  ;  this 
settled  all  Foote's  qualms,  and  the  work  on  the  Powhatan  proceeded 
rapidly. 

The  boilers  and  machinery  were  put  in  pretty  fair  order,  and 
the  officers  returned  in  obedience  to  the  telegrams.  Captain  Mer 
cer  took  nominal  command,  and  my  presence  in  the  navy-yard 
caused  no  comment,  as  I  never  went  near  the  ship. 

On  the  fourth  day  the  ship  was  all  ready  for  sea,  with  steam  up 
and  the  pilot  on  board,  and  Captain  Meigs  had  informed  me  he 
would  sail  in  the  Atlantic  at  3  P.  M.  with  the  troops  under  com 
mand  of  Colonel  Harvey  Brown. 

My  luggage  had  been  sent  on  board  the  previous  night,  and  I 
was  in  Captain  Foote's  .office,  having  a  last  talk  with  him,  when  a 
telegram  came  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  :  "  Prepare  the  Pow 
hatan  for  sea  with  all  dispatch." 

Foote  handed  the  telegram  to  me,  quite  dazed.  "  There,"  he 
said,  "  you  are  dished  ! " 

"Not  by  any  means,"  I  replied;  "this  telegram  is  all  right, 
only  the  President  has  got  uneasy  about  the  ship  not  sailing,  since 
he  was  under  the  impression  that  she  was  ready  for  sea  at  a  mo 
ment's  notice,  and  has  made  a  confidant  of  Mr.  Welles.  Let  me 


THE  POWHATAN  UNDER  WAY.  21 

get  on  board  and  off,  and  you  can  telegraph  that  the  Powhatan  has 
sailed." 

"No,"  said  Foote,  calling  for  pen  and  ink,  "I  must  telegraph 
to  Mr.  Welles." 

"Don't  make  any  mistake,"  I  said.  "You  must  obey  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  in  preference  to  all 
others,"  and  I  quoted  the  President's  order  :  "Under  no  circum 
stances  will  you  make  known  to  the  Navy  Department  the  object  of 
this  expedition." 

Foote  threw  down  his  pen.  "  Porter,"  he  exclaimed,  "  you  will 
be  the  death  of  me  ;  but  I  will  send  for  Mercer  and  Captain  Meigs 
to  join  our  conference." 

Both  these  gentlemen  were  soon  at  the  office,  and  both  urged 
Foote  to  obey  the  President's  order,  which  he  concluded  to  do. 

I  afterward  ascertained  that  other  telegrams  had  been  sent  to 
Captain  Foote,  while  I  was  staying  at  his  house,  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  in  relation  to  the  fitting  out  of  the  Powhatan,  but  he 
never  mentioned  the  fact  to  me — a  circumstance  for  which  I  can 
not  account. 

"  Now  go  right  on  board,  my  boy,"  said  Foote  to  me,  "  and 
get  off,  and  as  soon  as  you  are  under  way  I  will  telegraph  the  Sec 
retary  that  you  have  sailed."  So,  bidding  Captain  Foote  good-by, 
I  slipped  on  board  the  Powhatan,  unnoticed  amid  the  crowd,  and 
locked  myself  in  the  captain's  state-room. 

Captain  Mercer  was  to  remain  in  command  until  we  got  to 
Staten  Island,  when  he  was  to  go  ashore  and  the  ship  proceed  down 
the  bay  in  charge  of  the  first  lieutenant.  After  the  ship  passed 
the  bar  and  the  pilot  had  left,  I  was  to  appear. 

The  moment  the  ship  turned  her  head  down  stream  Foote  tele 
graphed  her  departure  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

We  met  with  many  obstacles  in  our  progress  down  the  East 
River,  and  did  not  have  steam  fairly  up  for  an  hour  after  leaving 
the  navy-yard.  We  were  an  hour  and  a  half  in  reaching  Staten 
Island,  and  consumed  another  hour  in  landing  Captain  Mercer,  as 
the  old  boat  nearly  filled  with  water  going  on  shore,  and  kept  half 
the  crew  bailing  her  out. 

Just  as  the  boat  was  hoisted  up  and  the  order  given  to  go  ahead, 
the  quartermaster  reported,  "A  fast  steamer  a-chasin'  and  sig' 
nalin'  of  us,  sir,  and  an  officer  wavin'  his  cap  ! " 

Perry,  the  first  lieutenant,  did  not  know  who  was  captain  or 
that  I  was  in  the  cabin,  so  he  stopped  until  the  steamer  came  up, 


22      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

although  she  would  have  caught  us  anyhow,  for  Foote  had  char 
tered  the  fastest  little  steamer  out  of  New  York,  and  kept  her  with 
steam  up,  ready  to  start  after  me  the  moment  the  expected  tele 
gram  should  arrive. 

The  steamboat  was  soon  alongside  the  Powhatan,  and  Lieuten 
ant  Eoe  came  on  board  and  delivered  a  telegram.  Perry  walked 
into  the  cabin,  and,  to  his  astonishment,  found  me  there  and  handed 
me  the  dispatch.  It  read  as  follows  : 

"Deliver  up  the  Powhatan  at  once  to  Captain  Mercer. 

"SEWARD." 
I  telegraphed  back : 

"Have  received  confidential  orders  from  the  President,  and 
shall  obey  them.  D.  D.  PORTER." 

I  then  went  on  deck  and  gave  orders  to  go  ahead  fast.  In  an 
hour  and  a  half  we  were  over  the  bar,  discharged  the  pilot,  and 
steering  south  for  an  hour,  and  then  due  east,  to  throw  any 
pursuers  off  our  track  (for  I  was  determined  to  go  to  Fort  Pickens). 
At  sundown  I  steered  my  course. 

When  my  answer  to  the  Secretary  of  State  was  handed  to 
Captain  Foote  he  was  astonished.  "He's  clean  daft!"  said  he, 
"  or  has  run  off  with  the  ship  to  join  the  rebels.  They  would  have 
tried  him  by  court-martial  anyhow.  Well,  I'll  never  trust  any  one 
again,  for  I  have  lost  faith  in  human  nature.  Porter  would  have 
been  such  a  help  to  our  side,  whereas  if  he  can  get  a  fast  vessel  he 
will  be  the  most  destructive  pirate  that  ever  roamed  the  seas." 

We  often  laughed  together  afterward  over  this  episode,  but 
Foote  always  ended  by  saying,  "You  ought  to  have  been  tried 
and  shot ;  no  one  but  yourself  would  ever  have  been  so  impudent." 

Mr.  Seward,  however,  was  of  a  different  opinion,  and  chuckled 
over  the  success  of  his  pet  scheme  and  at  the  idea  of  circumventing 
Mr.  Welles.  The  President  smiled  complacently  when  he  read  my 
telegram,  and  said,  "Seward,  if  the  Southerners  get  Sumter  we 
will  be  even  with  them  by  securing  Pickens."  I  made  a  warm 
friend  in  each  of  them,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  both 
stood  by  me  during  the  war  whenever  Mr.  Welles — who  was  not 
partial  to  me — was  disposed  to  be  annoying. 

When  Mr.  Welles  received  Captain  Foote's  telegram  announcing 
the  departure  of  the  Powhatan,  he  hurried  over  to  the  White  House, 
where  he  found  Mr.  Seward  with  the  President,  and  forthwith 
protested  against  the  interference  of  the  Secretary  of  State  in  the 


THE   POWHATAN  ARRIVES  AT  FORT  PICKENS.        23 

affairs  of  the  Navy  Department,  demanding  the  restitution  of  what 
he  termed  "the  stolen  ship,"  and  informing  the  President  that  on 
the  Powhatan  depended  the  success  of  the  relief  expedition  to  Fort 
Sumter,  as  she  carried  the  large  boats  necessary  for  that  occasion — 
when  in  fact  the  Powhatan  would  not  have  been  of  a  particle  of 
use,  as  she  drew  too  much  water  to  cross  Charleston  bar,  and  the 
boats  in  question  were  good  for  nothing,  as  they  had  been  so  long 
exposed  to  the  weather  without  paint  that  they  filled  with  water 
as  soon  as  they  were  lowered  overboard. 

If  Mr.  Welles  had  reflected  a  little  he  would  have  discovered 
that  the  Powhatan  could  not  have  reached  Charleston  in  time  to  be 
of  any  use,  for  his  order  to  prepare  the  ship  for  sea  did  not  reach 
New  York  until  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  April,  1861,  and  if  the 
vessel  had  not  been  taken  in  hand  when  she  was,  she  would  have 
been  on  that  date  in  dry-dock,  pulled  to  pieces,  and  with  half  her 
boilers  on  shore.  As  it  was,  the  rebels  opened  fire  on  Sumter  from 
their  heavy  earth- works  as  soon  as  the  vessels  composing  Mr.  Welles's 
expedition  approached  the  bar,  and  they  could  not  have  done  a 
particle  of  good.  Had  they  tried  to  succor  the  people  in  the  fort, 
they  would  have  been  sunk  in  a  very  few  minutes.  A  more  foolish 
expedition  was  never  dispatched,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  remarked,  when 
the  news  was  brought  to  him,  "  It's  a  good  rule  never  to  send  a 
mouse  to  catch  a  skunk,  or  a  polywog  to  tackle  a  whale." 

The  attempt  to  relieve  Sumter  was  a  curious  muddle,  and  had, 
from  the  first  inception  of  the  design,  no  chance  of  success.  Mr. 
Seward  was  evidently  opposed  to  it,  feeling  sure  that  it  would  be  a 
failure,  and  so  he  got  up  the  expedition  to  Pickens,  certain  that  it 
could  not  fail  to  be  successful.  The  Secretary  of  State  wished  to 
show  that  he  was  a  better  sailor  than  Mr.  Welles. 

We  reached  Fort  Pickens  the  day  after  the  Collins  steamship 
transporting  the  troops,  although  she  sailed  after  we  did.  I  ran 
in  for  the  harbor,  crossed  the  bar,  and  was  standing  up  to  Round 
Fort,  when  a  tug  put  out  from  Pickens  and  placed  herself  across  my 
path.  Captain  Meigs  was  on  board  the  tug,  waving  a  document, 
and,  hailing,  said  he  had  an  order  from  Colonel  Brown.  It  was  to 
the  following  effect :  "  Don't  permit  Powhatan  to  run  the  batteries 
or  attempt  to  go  inside.  It  will  bring  the  fire  of  the  enemy  on  the 
fort  before  we  are  prepared." 

I  felt  like  running  over  Meigs's  tug,  but  obeyed  the  order.  The 
stars  and  stripes  were  hoisted,  in  hopes  the  enemy  would  open  fire, 
but  they  did  not,  nor  do  I  believe  they  had  any  intention  of  so  doing. 


24:      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

The  people  in  this  part  of  the  country  were  not  in  the  same  state 
of  excitement  as  the  Charlestonians,  and  would  have  been  more  care 
ful  about  firing  the  first  gun.  Besides,  I  do  not  think  they  were 
prepared  for  hostilities,  for  they  had  mounted  a  number  of  guns  all 
en  larlette.  and  did  not  seem  to  have  any  intention  of  using  them. 

The  Powhatan  had  her  ten  ports  on  the  port  side  filled  with 
nine-inch  guns,  and  there  was  one  eleven-inch  pivot.  All  were 
loaded  with  grape  and  canister.  Besides,  there  were  twelve  how 
itzers  placed  in  different  parts  of  the  ship  and  loaded  with  shrap 
nel.  "With  our  trained  gunners  we  could  have  swept  the  raw  sol 
diers  from  the  rebel  batteries. 

It  was  therefore  unfortunate  that  Captain  Meigs  interfered  by 
presenting  the  order.  A  fine  opportunity  was  lost  for  the  Govern 
ment  to  demonstrate  its  power  and  determination  to  maintain  its 
authority  at  all  hazards. 

Mr.  Welles  claimed  that  this  expedition  to  Pickens  was  useless, 
as  he  "  had  already  instructed  the  commanding  officer  of  the  forces 
off  Pensacola  Bar  to  send  re-enforcements  to  Fort  Pickens  in  case  it 
was  attacked."  (!)  But  that  prudent  officer  lay  at  anchor  five  miles 
from  the  fort,  where  he  could  be  of  no  manner  of  use  in  case  of  a 
surprise. 

General  Bragg  had  a  large  force  of  troops  in  and  around  the 
navy-yard,  and  the  second  day  after  our  arrival  a  number  of  tugs 
and  schooners,  filled  with  soldiers,  came  down  from  Pensacola  and 
approached  Fort  Pickens,  whether  with  the  intention  of  attacking 
it  or  not  I  don't  know.  They  no  doubt  took  the  Powhatan  and  the 
Collins  steamer  for  store-ships,  and  thought  it  a  good  time  to  com 
mence  operations  and  secure  "loot,"  but  I  changed  the  programme 
by  sending  an  eleven-inch  shrapnel  among  them,  which,  bursting  at 
the  right  time,  threw  up  the  water  in  all  directions. 

The  flotilla  scampered  off  in  quick  time,  and  left  us  to  quietly 
prepare  the  fort  for  any  emergency,  and  it  remained  in  our  posses 
sion  during  the  whole  of  the  civil  war. 

At  that  time  the  news  that  Sumter  had  been  fired  on  had  not 
reached  us,  and  we  were  under  the  impression  that  our  shot  was  the 
first  that  had  been  fired. 

When  I  left  Washington  it  had  seemed  to  be  the  leading  idea 
that  nobody  should  get  hurt,  and  that  the  sensitive  feelings  of  our 
Southern  brethren  should  not  be  ruffled  ;  but  when  I  beheld  Bragg's 
transports  approaching,  I  thought  it  high  time  to  try  the  persuasive 
power  of  an  eleven-inch  shell. 


FEAR   OF  COMMITTING  AN   OVERT   ACT.  25 

My  sentiments  at  that  moment  were  like  those  of  an  old  fellow 
they  tell  of  at  Bunker  Hill,  who  was  much  amused  at  the  repeated 
volleys  of  musketry  poured  out  by  the  advancing  British  until  a 
ball  struck  him  in  the  fleshy  part  of  the  leg,  when  he  roared  out  to 
his  son,  who  stood  near  him,  "Dang  it,  Jim,  they're  firin'  bullets  ; 
we  must  fire  back  at  'em  !  "  I  thought  it  time  to  be  firing  bullets. 

The  above  is  the  way  Fort  Pickens  and  the  gallant  Slemmer  and 
his  men  were  saved  from  capture. 

If  the  commanding  officer  of  the  naval  forces  off  the  bar  had 
been  left  to  his  own  discretion,  Slemmer  would  have  had  but  a  poor 
show  in  case  he  had  been  attacked,  although  Mr.  Welles  no  doubt 
thought  everything  was  being  done  to  guard  the  fort  against  sur 
prise.  The  commander  of  the  squadron,  however,  assured  me  that 
he  was  so  tied  down  by  instructions  "  not  to  commit  any  overt  act " 
that  he  would  not  dare  to  undertake  anything  without  specific 
orders.  He  thought  me  very  reckless  in  firing  a  shell  among  Gen 
eral  Bragg's  vessels,  as,  "after  all,  they  perhaps  meant  nothing,  and 
were  merely  going  to  land  stores  at  the  navy-yard  ! "  It  seemed  to 
me  shameful,  with  such  a  force  as  this  officer  had  under  his  com 
mand,  that  the  rebels  should  be  holding  the  navy-yard  at  all. 

There  was  a  great  want  of  discretion  among  some  of  the  leading 
officers  of  the  squadron.  As  an  example,  I  will  mention  that  Lieu 
tenant  Renshaw,  who  had  deserted  his  flag,  went  out  from  Pensa- 
cola  in  a  sail-boat,  and,  after  spending  some  time  in  the  cabin  of 
the  flag-ship,  came  out  with  a  boy  carrying  a  large  bag  of  ship's  bis 
cuit,  which  was  passed  into  his  boat. 

The  sailors  gathered  at  the  gangway  to  witness  this  novel  pro 
ceeding,  and  many  a  hearty  curse  did  Renshaw  receive  as  he  slid 
down  the  man-ropes  into  his  boat.  The  general  expression  was, 
"  Double-dyed  traitor  !  "  yet  the  same  captain  who  had  entertained 
Renshaw  told  me  I  would  probably  be  tried  by  court-martial  for 
firing  at  Bragg's  men,  who  I  had  every  reason  to  suppose  were 
trying  to  capture  Fort  Pickens. 

I  must  leave  the  reader  to  judge  what  were  Mr.  Seward's  motives 
for  making  this  movement  on  Fort  Pickens,  and  whether  or  not  it 
was  a  good  one.  Without  doubt  the  Government  vindicated  its 
authority,  and  maintained  possession  of  its  own  property. 


26      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


CHAPTER  III. 

INCIDENTS  AT  PENSACOLA —  TWO  DISTINGUISHED  TRAVELLERS 
WHO  PEOYE  TO  BE  OLD  ACQUAINTANCES  —  A  MEMORABLE 
BREAKFAST. 

WHEN  one  takes  a  retrospective  view  of  the  events  which,  oc 
curred  twenty-four  years  ago,  he  can  not  help  but  admit  that  this 
is  a  progressive  age  ;  and  when  he  sees  a  building  burn  down  he  may 
console  himself  with  the  idea  that  he  will  live  to  see  a  finer  one 
springing  up  from  its  ashes,  particularly  if  the  old  one  has  been  well 
insured.  There  may  be  pleasant  recollections  associated  with  the 
original  building,  for  the  loss  of  which  we  can  never  be  repaid  ;  but 
time  heals  all  things,  and  we  learn  to  do  without  the  old  associa 
tions  and  form  other  and  dearer  ties. 

I  have  often  lamented  the  wicked  waste  of  life  and  property 
caused  by  our  civil  war  ;  but  I  have  now  learned  to  look  upon  all 
these  matters  philosophically,  and  sometimes  think  it  was  intended 
the  nation  should  pass  through  such  an  experience,  as  children  go 
through  with  their  various  diseases,  by  way  of  preparing  them  for 
the  greater  trials  of  life. 

If  we  take  this  view  of  the  matter,  we  may  find  some  consola 
tion  for  the  events  of  a  fratricidal  war  which  should  never  have 
taken  place. 

It  seems  difficult,  however,  to  find  any  compensation  for  the 
numerous  blunders  that  were  committed  by  those  in  authority. 
Our  house  has  indeed  sprung  from  its  ashes  more  beautiful  than 
ever,  but  how  much  better  it  would  have  been  to  have  saved  it  from 
the  fire  by  using  proper  precautions  ! 

When  I  look  back  to  the  time  when  it  was  considered  so  impor 
tant  to  secure  Fort  Pickens  and  the  Pensacola  navylyard,  I  have 
often  wondered  why  our  vessels  did  not  go  in  and  take  possession, 
since  it  was  easy  enough  to  do  so,  and,  in  all  probability,  no  one  would 
have  been  hurt ;  but  our  Government  was  so  exceedingly  sensitive 
about  wounding  the  feelings  of  the  seceders  that  although  we  had 
the  force  at  hand  no  steps  were  taken  to  prevent  General  Bragg 
from  fortifying  the  navy-yard  and  the  approaches  to  Pensacola. 
Fort  Pickens  after  it  was  re-enforced  could  have  knocked  all  Bragg's 
batteries  to  pieces  in  half  an  hour ;  or  a  single  frigate  under  cover 


«  COMMITTING  NO   OVERT  ACT."  27 

of  the  fort  could  have  driven  the  enemy  away  and  recovered  a 
large  amount  of  valuable  public  property. 

But  no  ;  the  officers  of  the  army  and  navy  were  obliged  to  look 
quietly  on  the  unceasing  labors  of  the  Confederates,  apparently 
waiting  the  completion  of  works  that  they  would  then  proceed  to 
knock  to  pieces,  at  the  same  time  destroying  the  public  property 
which  it  was  their  duty  to  preserve. 

After  Fort  Pickens  was  fully  manned,  the  Union  squadron 
hauled  in  closer  and  looked  placidly  on,  while  the  people  of  Mobile 
were  supplying  the  rebel  army  with  everything  they  wanted  by 
means  of  tugs  and  schooners. 

At  first  the  Confederates  were  cautious  how  they  sent  in  sup 
plies  ;  but,  finding  that  they  were  not  molested,  or  even  questioned, 
they  began  to  send  them  openly  by  sea  in  large  quantities. 

Vessels  loaded  with  lumber  departed  daily  from  Pensacola  har 
bor,  and  others  entered,  but  not  a  boat  was  sent  from  the  flag-ship 
to  inquire  what  were  the  cargoes  and  for  whom  intended,  and 
Bragg  and  his  officers  lived  quietly  in  the  navy-yard  houses,  no 
doubt  wondering  why  they  were  permitted  to  enjoy  themselves  so 
pleasantly,  and  hoping  the  truce  would  last  an  indefinite  period. 

I  went  on  board  the  senior  naval  officer's  ship  several  times  to 
try  and  get  an  explanation  of  this  very  peculiar  method  of  carrying 
on  war,  but  the  only  satisfaction  I  received  was  the  information 
that  the  commanding  officer's  orders  were  to  "  commit  no  overt 
act."  These  orders  were  the  last  communication  received  from  the 
department  some  thirty  days  previous. 

I  asked  the  senior  officer  to  let  me  take  the  responsibility  of 
blockading  the  port  of  Pensacola,  but  he  objected  to  my  doing  so. 
There  was  in  all  this  business  an  inanity  of  which  I  had  never  con 
ceived.  The  commanding  officer  of  Fort  Pickens  had  no  orders  at 
all  that  I  am  aware  of,  except  to  hold  the  fort,  and  not  draw  the 
fire  of  the  Confederates. 

One  day  the  commander  of  the  squadron  signaled  me  to  meet 
him  at  the  fort  for  a  conference,  and  I  at  once  repaired  there. 

The  Confederates  had  hauled  the  dry  dock  out  of  the  basin  at 
the  navy -yard  and  anchored  it  about  two  hundred  yards  from  Fort 
Pickens.  There  were  a  number  of  men  on  the  dock,  and  four  heavy 
anchors  were  hanging  from  its  ends. 

"When  I  reached  the  fort  the  senior  naval  officer  was  there  in 
consultation  with  the  commanding  officer  of  the  troops.  They  had 
written  to  Bragg  to  ask  what  were  his  intentions  with  regard  to 


28     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  dry  dock.  Bragg  replied  that  the  dock  got  adrift  and  that  he 
would  restore  it  to  its  place.  About  four  hours  afterward  it  acci 
dentally  sunk  in  the  middle  of  the  channel !  Of  course,  nobody 
believed  that  this  was  really  an  accident,  but  our  senior  officers 
thought  they  had  done  their  duty  by  inquiring  of  Bragg  what  he 
intended  to  do,  and,  after  having  seen  him  carry  out  his  intentions, 
they  sat  down  quietly  to  dinner.  Colonel  Brown  filled  up  some 
more  sand-bags,  and  Bragg  mounted  an  extra  gun  ;  they  were  like 
two  boys  daring  each  other  to  knock  off  chips  from  their  shoulders 
and  playing  a  farce  of  war. 

Next  day  the  smoke  of  two  steamers  was  descried  to  the  west 
ward,  and  I  signaled  for  "permission  to  chase,"  which  was  granted. 
In  an  hour  I  came  up  with  two  large  river  boats  loaded  with  pro 
visions  for  General  Bragg's  army,  of  which  they  made  no  secret.  I 
put  each  vessel  in  charge  of  an  officer  and  prize  crew,  and  escorted 
them  to  the  flag-ship,  where  they  were  anchored. 

These  vessels  had  on  board  some  $375,000  worth  of  stores,  and 
the  captains  made  many  silly  threats  because  they  were  interfered 
with — enough  in  fact,  to  make  the  senior  naval  officer  think  he  had 
committed  an  "  overt  act "  !  So  he  was  willing  to  compromise,  and 
let  the  steamers  off,  provided  they  would  return  to  Mobile,  which 
they  were  very  glad  to  do.  I  was  ordered  to  escort  them  back  to 
the  place  where  I  had  captured  them,  and  one  of  the  steamers  at 
tempting  to  run  into  Pensacola,  I  sent  a  nine-inch  shell  after  her, 
which  burst  over  the  vessel,  whereupon  she  turned  and  preceded 
me  toward  Mobile.  A  nine-inch  shot  is  a  terribly  effective  argu 
ment  in  such  a  case. 

I  convoyed  the  vessels  some  miles  down  the  coast,  and,  disgusted 
with  such  humiliating  duty,  I  told  the  steamboat  captains  to  get 
ready  to  go  on  board  and  take  command  of  their  vessels  again,  say 
ing,  as  I  did  so,  "  Now  let  me  give  you  a  piece  of  advice.  Don't 
try  this  again  ;  if  you  do,  and  come  within  reach  of  my  guns,  I  will 
sink  you.  I  have  a  great  mind  to  do  it  anyhow."  They  never 
tried  it  again. 

If  permitted,  the  rebels  would  have  gone  on  committing  infrac 
tions  of  the  mutual  truce  which  seemed  to  have  been  tacitly  estab 
lished,  until  finally  they  would  have  demanded  Fort  Pickens,  and  I 
am  not  sure  but  what  it  would  have  been  considered  "an  overt 
act "  to  have  refused  them. 

I  returned  to  my  anchorage  completely  disgusted,  and  went  im 
mediately  to  call  on  the  senior  officer  and  to  protest  against  my 


TWO  TRAVELERS.  29 

officers  and  ship  being  employed  on  such  humiliating  duty.  I  de 
manded  permission  to  blockade  the  port  of  Pensacola  and  stop  the 
supplies  that  were  being  constantly  taken  in  to  Bragg's  army. 
Much  to  my  surprise  my  demand  was  granted,  provided  everything 
was  done  on  my  own  responsibility  and  that  I  should  commit  no 
"  overt  act."  That  seemed  to  be  the  stumbling-block  in  the  senior 
officer's  way.  The  quotation  appalled  him. 

Next  day  I  established  a  rigid  blockade  of  the  harbor  with  my 
boats  and  a  small  pilot-boat  of  which  I  had  obtained  possession, 
and  Bragg  got  no  more  supplies  by  water,  for  not  even  a  canoe  was 
allowed  to  pass  in  or  out.  My  communications  with  the  senior  offi 
cer  ceased  altogether,  and  for  a  week  I  did  not  see  him. 

Ever  since  the  re~enf  orcement  of  Pickens  I  had  been  made  to  "  eat 
dirt,"  as  the  Turks  say,  and  I  began  to  fear  there  would  be  no  end 
to  our  humiliation ;  but,  thank  Heaven,  it.  was  over  at  last,  and  I  had 
the  satisfaction  of  hoping  that  Bragg  and  his  men  would  occasion 
ally  be  short  of  rations,  although  he  could  get  provisions  by  haul 
ing  them  over  the  sand  from  Mobile. 

Amid  the  most  serious  events  there  is  often  something  calcu 
lated  to  bring  a  smile  to  the  face.  Much  stupidity  was  practiced 
by  the  United  States  forces  at  Pensacola,  and  a  good  deal  of  cunning 
and  zeal  shown  by  the  Confederates.  I  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs 
and  made  things  lively  for  the  first  few  days.  When  I  got  hold  of 
the  pilot-boat  I  put  Sailing-Master  George  Brown  in  charge  of  her, 
and  with  the  boats  of  the  Powhatan  operated  very  successfully. 
There  was  no  prize-money  made,  but  we  caused  a  deal  of  disappoint 
ment  to  the  enemy. 

On  the  third  day  of  the  blockade  a  thick  fog  set  in,  giving  block 
ade-runners  a  fine  opportunity  to  get  in  and  out  of  Pensacola. 

Of  course  everybody  in  the  Southern  States  knew  the  condition 
of  affairs  at  Pensacola,  and  how  easy  it  was  to  get  away  from  there 
or  to  enter  through  the  unguarded  gates  of  Fort  Pickens.  A  num 
ber  of  people  were  picked  up  and  sent  back  in  both  directions. 

On  the  third  morning  one  of  our  boats  returned  alongside  the 
ship,  towing  a  good-sized  sail-boat  with  two  persons  sitting  in  the 
stern  dressed  like  travelers,  each  with  a  traveling-bag  by  his  side. 

The  moment  I  saw  these  persons  I  recognized  them  and  told 
the  officer  of  the  deck  not  to  give  them  my  real  name,  but  to  show 
them  to  the  cabin  and  say  that  "  the  captain  would  be  on  board 
in  half  an  hour  and  expected  them  to  breakfast,  etc."  I  wanted  to 
have  a  little  amusement  out  of  this  incident. 


30     INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

When  the  travelers  mounted  the  side  and  found  themselves 
standing  on  the  deck  of  a  large  ship  bristling  with  guns,  they  both 
looked  exceedingly  disturbed,  and,  though  muffled  in  heavy  over 
coats  to  keep  out  the  chilling  fog,  they  trembled  perceptibly. 

One  of  the  men,  a  bluff  Briton,  in  rather  an  arrogant  manner 
asked  the  officer  of  the  deck  who  was  the  captain  of  the  ship,  and 
by  what  right  he  dared  to  detain  one  of  her  Majesty's  subjects 
while  in  transit  from  one  country  to  another.  If  he  was  not  at 
once  allowed  to  proceed,  and  an  apology  made  for  his  detention,  he 
would  lay  the  whole  matter  before  her  Majesty's  Government  and 
claim  heavy  damages. 

"You  will  have  to  wait,"  said  the  officer  of  the  deck.  "Cap 
tain  Jones  will  be  here  in  half  an  hour,  and  he  expects  you  to  break 
fast  with  him,  as  you  must  feel  quite  exhausted  after  your  long 
journey  from  Montgomery." 

The  two  travelers  started,  and  the  one  who  had  not  before 
spoken  said,  in  an  agitated  voice,  "  Bless  my  soul,  there  must  be 
some  mistake  ;  we  don't  know  Captain  Jones,  in  fact  never  heard  of 
him.  We  are  simply  travelers  getting  out  of  that  nasty  place 
where  you  can't  get  a  decent  cup  of  coffee  or  a  glass  of  wine.  My 
name  is  Wilkins  ;  my  friend  here  is  Mr.  Blarney." 

"  Barney,  if  you  please,"  interrupted  his  companion. 

"Yes,  bless  my  soul,"  said  Wilkins,  "you're  right.  I'm  a  lit 
tle  confused  this  morning.  Here  are  our  cards." 

The  cards  read,  "Mr.  Barney,  British  Legation,"  and  "Mr. 
Wilkins,  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  Berlin." 

"  Please  walk  into  the  cabin,  gentlemen,"  said  the  officer  of  the 
deck,  "and  wait  the  captain's  coming.  I  will  have  your  great 
coats  dried  by  the  galley  fire. " 

While  this  conversation  was  going  on  I  had  directed  the  steward 
to  set  the  breakfast- table  for  three  persons,  and  to  give  us  the  best 
breakfast  possible,  not  forgetting  claret  and  Rhine  wine,  and  some 
hot  pickled  peppers.  The  cards  had  been  handed  to  me  through  my 
state-room  window  after  the  gentlemen  were  shown  into  the  cabin. 

Both  looked  surprised  when  they  saw  the  table  set  for  breakfast. 
"Egad  !"  said  Wilkins,  "we're  in  for  a  lark,  old  boy;  this  is  bet 
ter  than  sailing  about  in  a  fog." 

I  could  hear  every  word  they  said,  and,  by  moving  the  slats  in 
the  blinds  of  my  state-room,  could  see  the  puzzled  faces  of  two  old 
acquaintances,  who  had  no  idea  I  was  within  a  thousand  miles  of 
them. 


A  PERPLEXING  PARROT.  31 

"By  George  !  old  fellow,"  said  Wilkins,  "the  captain  does  ex 
pect  some  one  to  breakfast,  sure  enough  ;  and  just  look  at  this  old 
Lafitte  and  Rhine  wine  ;  why,  this  Jones  must  know  how  to  live  ; 
and,  by  George  !  if  he  hasn't  some  chile  Colorado  in  that  pickle- 
dish — napkins,  glassware,  silver ;  why,  Barney,  old  boy,  we  are  in 
clover  ;  I  hope  Jones  will  invite  us  to  stay  a  week." 

"The  chances  are,"  said  Barney,  in  a  melancholy  voice,  "that 
this  is  all  a  mistake,  and  that  we  will  be  turned  out  in  half  an  hour 
to  mess  with  the  crew,  or  tarred  and  feathered  and  sent  back  to 
Dixie,  as  those  blasted  fools  on  shore  call  it.  But  if  this  Captain 
Jones  takes  any  liberties  with  me,  one  of  her  Majesty's  squadrons 
will  come  down  here  and  open  this  port  in  short  order." 

"  Bosh  !"  said  Wilkins.  "  Devil  take  me,  old  boy,  if  I  am  going 
to  quarrel  with  Captain  Jones,  Brown,  or  Smith,  or  whatever  his 
name  is,  as  long  as  he  sets  as  good  a  table  as  this.  Ah !  my  lips 
smack  at  the  thought  of  getting  some  of  that  Lafitte.  You  Brit 
ishers  are  so  stupid  about  your  dignity  !  Why,  I  don't  believe  Queen 
Victoria  would  care  a  snap  if  these  fellows  were  to  swing  you  up  at 
the  yard-arm  to-morrow.  She  wouldn't  trouble  herself  to  send  any 
squadron  to  look  after  you,  old  boy.  Come,  get  in  a  good  humor — 
God  bless  the  old  lady,  rule  Britannia  if  you  please,  but  don't  let's 
lose  a  good  breakfast  by  your  stupid  English  ways." 

At  that  moment,  through  the  blinds  of  my  state-room  came 
the  sounds,  "Pretty  Poll !  Polly  have  a  pepper  ?"  as  natural  as 
life. 

The  travelers  started,  then  looked  around.  "  D — n  that  Poll 
parrot ;  this  don't  speak  well  for  Jones.  JSTo  one  but  an  ass  would 
keep  a  parrot.  However,  his  Lafitte  seems  to  be  all  right." 

"Polly,  put  the  kettle  on  !  Britannia  rules  the  waves,"  yelled 
the  parrot,  winding  up  with  a  demoniac  laugh. 

"  Well,"  said  Barney,  "  the  parrot  isn't  as  big  a  fool  as  its  own 
er,  for  he  knows  who  rules  the  waves." 

"  Bosh  1 "  exclaimed  "Wilkins,  "  didn't  the  Yankees  thrash  you 
in  the  year  1812?" 

"Ha!  ha!"  shouted  the  parrot,  <( Yankee  Doodle  came  to 
town  and  whipped  the  British  nation  ! " 

"  I'd  wring  that  parrot's  neck  if  I  had  him,"  said  the  English 
man  ;  "  he's  a  bigger  fool  than  your  friend  Jones." 

"Don't  abuse  Jones,"  said  Wilkins,  "until  we  find  out  what 
kind  of  a  cook  he  has." 

At  that  moment  the  supposed  parrot  sang  out,  "  Fie  !  fie  ! 


32     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

fie !  Sam,  does  your  mother  know  you're  out  ?    Polly  wants  a 
cracker ! " 

Wilkins  jumped  from  his  chair.    "  Did  you  hear  that  ?  "  he  said. 

"  Yes,  I  heard  it,"  replied  Barney.  "  Don't  pay  any  attention  to 
that  infernal  bird ;  you  will  make  as  big  an  ass  of  yourself  as  Jones, 
who  must  be  hard  up  for- amusement  to  keep  a  parrot." 

"Watch  your  bag,  Sam,"  sang  out  the  parrot.  "Contraband! 
contraband  !  Spy  !  spy  ! " 

Wilkins  rushed  for  the  state-room  door ;  it  was  locked  on  the  in 
side.  " I'll  wring  the  d — d  parrot's  neck,"  he  shouted.  "What 
does  this  mean  ?  " 

"  '  Conscience  makes  cowards  of  us  all,5 "  replied  the  other.  "  It's 
only  parrot's  nonsense.  I  knew  of  one  once  that  could  repeat 
words  as  fast  as  he  heard  them  uttered." 

"  Cowards  of  us  all ! "  yelled  the  parrot ;  "  I  belong  to  that  ass 
Jones ! " 

"That's  the  devil,"  said  Wilkins;  "I  wish  I  could  throttle 
him." 

"  Ha  !  ha  !  ha  ! "  laughed  the  parrot.  "  0  Sam  Ward,  Sam 
Ward,  Sam  Ward  !  ha  !  ha  !  ha  !  Polly  wants  a  cracker ! " 

Wilkins  turned  pale,  seized  his  traveling-bag  and  rushed  to  the 
cabin-door,  but,  on  opening  it,  was  met  by  the  orderly,  who  in 
formed  him  that  he  could  not  pass  out. 

"What ! "  inquired  Wilkins,  "am  I  a  prisoner  ?  " 

"My  orders  are,  sir,"  replied  the  orderly,  "that  you  gentlemen 
must  remain  in  the  cabin  until  the  captain  comes  on  board." 

The  parrot  laughed  and  sang  out,  "Sam  Ward  a  prisoner  !  fie  ! 
fie  !  fie  !  Sam  !  fie  !  fie  1 " 

Wilkins  rushed  again  to  the  state-room  door,  which  he  tried  in 
vain  to  open,  while  the  parrot  inside  sang  out,  "Sam  Ward  !" 

Wilkins  sank  exhausted  on  the  sofa.  "I'll  give  this  Captain 
Jones  a  piece  of  my  mind  for  teaching  his  rascally  parrot  such  twad 
dle.  I  wonder  where  he  could  have  heard  of  me." 

Just  then  the  parrot  shouted,  "Walk  in,  Captain  Jones;  Sam 
Ward  says  you're  an  ass  ! "  and  I  opened  the  state-room  door  and 
walked  into  the  cabin. 

If  a  thunderbolt  had  fallen,  Sam  Ward,  alias  Wilkins,  could  not 
have  been  more  astonished. 

"In  the  name  of  Heaven,"  he  exclaimed,  "where  did  you  come 
from  ?  Do  you  belong  to  this  ship  ?  "  and  he  seized  me  by  the  hand 
and  almost  shook  my  arm  from  its  socket.  "Do  you  know  Captain 


A  PLEASANT  BREAKFAST.  33 

Jones  ?  He  owes  me  an  apology  for  teaching  his  parrot  a  lot  of 
infernal  nonsense  about  me." 

"  Fie  !  fie  !  fie  !  Sam  Ward  ! "  exclaimed  a  small  messenger  boy, 
sitting  demurely  on  a  camp-stool ;  said  boy  having  been  brought  in 
to  personate  a  parrot — which  bird  he  could  imitate  to  perfection — 
"  Polly  wants  a  pepper." 

"Good  gracious!"  exclaimed  Sam  Ward,  "that  was  your 
nonsense,  then  ?  —  and  I  might  have  known  it  the  moment  I 
saw  you.  I  haven't  forgotten  your  tricks  and  jokes  when  we  went 
through  Magellan  Straits  in  the  old  Panama ;  but  what  are  you 
doing  here  ?  " 

"I  am  Captain  Jones,"  I  replied.  "I  suppose  I  have  as  much 
right  to  an  alias  as  you  have. " 

"Well,  thank  Providence,  I  am  sure  of  a  good  breakfast;  but 
let  me  introduce  you  to  my  friend  Mr.  Barney,  who  is  traveling 
with  me  ;  we  won't  be  sent  to  Fort  Lafayette,  will  we  ?  " 

"How  do  you  do,  Mr.  E ?"  I  said,  addressing  the  soi-di- 

sant  Barney.  "I  knew  you  through  your  full  whiskers,  and  con 
gratulate  you  upon  being  under  a  real  flag  once  more.  I  don't  think 
her  Majesty  will  send  a  squadron  to  break  up  the  blockade,  but  we 
will  get  some  breakfast  and  then  talk  business." 

Sam  Ward  said  he  had  got  caught  in  the  South,  and  he  and 

E had  to  get  out  of  the  country  the  best  way  they  could. 

Hearing  that  Pensacola  was  not  blockaded,  they  came  there,  and, 
hiring  a  boat  and  a  man  to  manage  it,  were  coming  out  under  cover 
of  a  fog  when  captured.  "  Thank  fortune,  I  smell  the  coffee,"  said 
Sam,  "and  know  that  breakfast  is  coming." 

E also  became  quite  communicative,  told  me  he  had  trav 
eled  South  to  see  how  things  were  going,  and  was  glad  enough  to 
get  out  of  the  country. 

That  was  a  pleasant  breakfast.  Sam  Ward,  as  usual,  took  charge, 
called  for  all  the  sauces  in  the  pantry,  and  paid  his  best  respects  to 
the  Lafitte  and  Ehine  wine. 

Sam  Ward  talked  Union  like  a  man  ;  E was  evidently  bit 
ten  wifti  the  secession  mania.  He  said  we  should  have  a  long  and 
bitter  war,  and  could  never  restore  the  Union  unless  we  granted  the 
Southern  people  all  they  asked  for. 

That  night  I  sent  my  guests  off  in  the  pilot-boat  with  their  own 
boat  in  tow,  with  directions  to  take  them  to  the  entrance  of  Mobile 
Bay  and  let  them  go. 

The  last  thing  Sam  Ward  did  was  to  extort  from  me  a  promise 

3 


34:     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

never  to  tell  that  parrot  story,  and  I  only  do  so  now  that  he  has 
gone  to  his  long  home,  where,  if  he  takes  cognizance  of  what  is 
occurring  here  below,  he  will  not  be  displeased  at  my  bringing  in 
an  old  friend  in  connection  with  this  little  incident  of  the  war. 

I  had  my  suspicions  about  the  two  travelers,  and  thought  possi 
bly  they  might  have  been  messengers  from  the  Southern  cabinet  to 
friends  in  the  North,  but  I  was  not  going  to  raise  a  question  that 
might  have  vexed  the  Secretary  of  State  and  burned  my  own  fingers. 
I  took  their  word  as  gentlemen,  and  dismissed  them  after  they  had 
enjoyed  my  hospitality. 

When  I  knew  how  loosely  the  blockade  of  Pensacola  had  been 
maintained,  and  how  the  Confederates  had  been  encouraged  to 
mount  guns,  complete  their  defences,  and  bring  in  provisions  and 
stores  for  their  troops,  I  thought  it  would  be  idle  for  me  to  inter 
fere  with  the  movements  of  two  gentlemen  who  claimed  to  be  run 
ning  away  from  the  South  and  trying  to  reach  the  flesh-pots  of  the 
Yankees.  They  could  not  do  much  harm,  I  thought,  and  I  have 
always  been  glad  that  I  had  it  in  my  power  to  contribute  to  their 
comfort  in  their  journey  through  the  lines. 

Four  days  after  the  above  episode  Captain  McKean  arrived  in 
the  frigate  Niagara.  I  went  immediately  on  board  and  informed 
that  officer,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  how  matters  stood,  and  how 
badly  affairs  had  been  conducted. 

He  signaled  at  once  for  all  commanding  officers  to  repair  on 
board  the  Niagara,  and,  when  we  were  all  in  the  cabin,  Captain 
McKean  addressed  us  as  follows  : 

"  Gentlemen,  these  are  ticklish  times,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the 
senior  officers  of  the  navy  to  set  an  example  to  the  younger  ones. 
What  I  propose  will  keep  people  to  their  duty ;  but  if  the  officers 
present  have  any  conscientious  scruples  about  taking  an  oath  of 
allegiance,  they  can  state  them  or  for  ever  after  hold  their  peace. 
I  propose  that  we  all  do  now  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
United  States,  and  sign  a  paper  to  the  effect  that  we  will  serve  the 
Government  until  death  do  us  part  and,  forsaking  all  others,  cleave 
unto  her  our  natural  mother." 

The  old  gentleman  was  deeply  religious,  and  had  evidently  been 
reading  the  marriage  ceremony,  but  his  remarks  were  forcible  and 
to  the  point. 

The  officer,  whom  I  have  before  mentioned,  declined  point- 
blank  to  take  the  oath — and  it  was  not  an  "  iron-clad  "  affair  either 
— whereupon  I  stepped  forward  and  said,  "  I  think  every  man  should 


TAKING  THE   OATH   OF  ALLEGIANCE.  35 

be  obliged  to  take  that  oath,  for  I  have  seen  more  treason  in  the 
last  ten  days  than  I  ever  supposed  could  exist  in  the  United  States 
Navy."  So  I  signed  the  paper,  and  Captain  McKean  administered 
the  oath  to  me. 

Captain  McKean  looked  coolly  at  the  captain  who  had  declined 
to  sign.  "Now,  captain,"  he  said,  "will  you  sign  this  paper  and 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  or  not  ?  " 

"1  solemnly  protest  against  it,"  replied  the  other;  "you  have 
no  authority  to  require  it  of  us.  We  took  our  oaths  when  we  en 
tered  the  navy." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  old  captain,  "  so  did  many  others,  and  they 
violated  them.  You  must  either  take  the  oath  or  suffer  the  conse 
quences  for  not  doing  so." 

"I  will  sign  the  paper  under  protest,  and  take  the  oath  with  a 
reservation." 

"I  don't  care  how  you  do  it,"  said  Captain  McKean,  "but  do 
it  you  must." 

The  officer  sulkily  signed  the  paper,  took  the  oath,  and,  turning 
on  his  heel,  left  the  cabin  without  saying  "  Good-morning  "  to  any 
one. 

" I  fear  I  have  made  a  mistake,"  said  Captain  McKean,  "in  not 
arresting  that  officer." 

"Yes,"  replied  I,  " you  never  made  a  greater  mistake  in  your 
life  ;  but  he  will  keep  his  oath  with  a  reservation  never  to  fire  a  shot 
at  the  South  in  anger,"  and  so  it  turned  out. 

In  a  few  days  Captain  McKean  scattered  all  the  vessels  in  differ 
ent  directions,  leaving  the  above-mentioned  officer  in  charge  at 
Pensacola  Bar,  with  orders  to  maintain  a  strict  blockade  and  not 
let  even  a  canoe  pass  in  or  out. 

Months  passed  away.  Bragg  built  his  fortifications  and  never 
molested  Fort  Pickens.  Colonel  Brown  piled  up  sand-bags  and 
never  troubled  Bragg.  Neither  of  them  committed  an  "  overt  act." 
A  more  innocent  war  was  never  carried  on. 


36     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

DELAY  AT  PENSACOLA — ATTACK  ON"  FORT  MORGAN" — PENSACOLA 
ABANDONED  —  A  REMARKABLE  SPECIMEN  OF  A  SOUTHERN" 
UNIONIST. 

I  HAD  at  last  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  Pensacola  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Union  forces. 

I  was  sent  in  the  Powhatan  to  blockade  the  southwest  pass  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  while  there  recaptured  the  brig  Mary  Bradford, 
the  first  prize  taken  by  the  rebel  privateer  Sumter. 

I  obtained  from  the  crew  of  the  brig  information  of  the  Sumter's 
movements,  and  went  on  board  the  Niagara,  which  had  come  in  that 
day,  and  asked  Captain  McKean's  permission  to  go  in  pursuit  of 
that  vessel.  Captain  McKean  was  no  longer  senior  officer,  and  did 
not  feel  justified  in  permitting  me  to  go.  Commodore  Mervine  had 
assumed  command  of  the  squadron,  and  was  then  off  Pensacola  in 
the  flag-ship  Susquehanna,  and  Captain  McKean  gave  me  permis 
sion  to  go  there  and  see  the  commodore,  two  hundred  miles  away. 

There  was  a  fascination  about  Pensacola  Bar  that  kept  the  com 
manding  officers  there  day  after  day  gazing  at  the  harbor  and  fancy 
ing,  perhaps,  that  they  were  acquiring  experience  in  the  art  of  war. 

I  arrived  at  Pensacola  Bar  the  next  night,  found  the  Susque 
hanna  at  the  usual  anchorage,  and  briefly  stated  to  the  commodore 
my  reasons  for  visiting  him. 

"  Why,  man  alive,"  said  Mervine,  "  I  was  just  going  to  send  for 
you  to  come  up  and  help  me  capture  Ship  Island.  The  enemy  have 
mounted  six  guns  and  are  assuming  a  threatening  attitude.  I 
think  our  two  ships  can  clean  them  out." 

"Yes,  sir,"  I  replied,  "either  one  of  them  could  do  it ;  but  I 
consider  the  capture  of  the  Sumter  of  vastly  more  importance  than 
an  old  six-gun  battery  on  a  sand  island  that  can  do  us  no  harm 
or  the  Confederates  any  good.  Here  is  Pensacola,"  I  continued, 
"  that  seems  to  me  to  have  taken  a  very  threatening  attitude  for  a 
long  time.  I  wouldn't  mind  losing  the  Sumter  if  you  would  let  me 
accompany  you  in  and  drive  Bragg  out." 

"  But,"  said  the  commodore,  "  such  a  movement  would  draw  the 
fire  on  Fort  Pickens,  and  that  would  never  do,  for  the  place  is  not 
yet  fully  manned  and  fortified." 


IN  SEARCH   OF  THE   SUMTER.  37 

I  had  left  Pickens  about  three  months  before,  and  since  that 
time  several  schooners  had  arrived  from  the  North  loaded  with 
cannon  and  all  sorts  of  ammunition.  One  of  these  vessels  even  went 
inside  the  port  to  the  main  wharf  and  unloaded  its  warlike  cargo 
without  molestation  from  the  Confederate  batteries.  Bragg  sent  a 
letter  once  to  the  commanding  officer  at  Fort  Pickens  and  in 
formed  him  that  he  considered  such  proceedings  improper,  and  that 
he  must  land  his  guns  on  the  outside. 

The  reply  of  the  commanding  officer  was  that  it  was  very  in 
convenient  to  do  that,  as  there  was  no  wharf  or  crane  outside,  and 
that  the  vessel  would  sail  as  soon  as  she  had  unloaded. 

This  explanation  seems  to  have  been  entirely  satisfactory  to  Gen 
eral  Bragg,  and  so  this  new  method  of  carrying  on  hostilities  was 
persevered  in  to  the  end.  Perhaps  Bragg  was  waiting  until  the 
fort  was  filled  up,  when  he  intended  to  invite  the  commandant  to 
hand  it  over  to  him. 

Some  months  after  this  Bragg  did  send  an  expedition  to  Santa 
Rosa  Island  and  captured  General  Yogdes,  some  of  Billy  Wilson's 
zouaves,  and  an  old  white  horse  ;  and  that,  I  believe,  was  the  prin 
cipal  event  of  the  campaign. 

There  was  no  doubt  of  old  Commodore  Mervine's  bravery,  but  he 
had,  somehow  or  other,  got  it  into  his  head  that  to  make  any  move 
ment  on  Pensacola  would  be  to  commit  "an  overt  act."  I  man 
aged,  however,  to  get  his  permission  to  go  in  search  of  the  Sumter, 
and  was  off  before  he  had  a  chance  to  change  his  mind. 

This  detention,  however,  at  Pensacola  caused  me  to  lose  the 
prize.  I  wasted  more  than  two  days  in  going  to  Pensacola  and  back 
again  to  Cape  Antonio,  besides  using  up  coal.  I  arrived  at  Cien- 
fuegos  only  sixteen  hours  after  the  Sumter  had  sailed  ;  had  I  found 
her  there,  I  should  have  taken  her  at  all  hazards. 

I  chased  the  vessel  to  St.  Thomas.  She  left  only  a  few  hours 
before  I  entered  the  port.  I  followed  her  to  Curacoa,  Maranham, 
Parana  in  Brazil,  and  thence  to  the  equator,  where  Semmes  sank  a 
vessel  within  thirty  miles  of  us.  Had  he  burned  her,  we  would 
have  seen  the  smoke  and  captured  the  Sumter. 

I  now  steered  for  St.  Thomas  to  get  coal,  sighted  a  supposed 
Sumter  just  before  dark,  overhauled  her  rapidly,  but  lost  her  in  the 
gloom  of  night.  After  chasing  the  Sumter  ten  thousand  miles  I 
returned  in  disgust  to  Key  West,  and  thence  went  to  New  York, 
the  vessel  all  broken  down,  so  that  we  had  to  proceed  mostly  under 
sail. 


38     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF   THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

I  subsequently  assisted  in  the  capture  of  the  forts  at  New  Or 
leans,  and  at  that  time,  a  year  after  the  relief  of  Pickens,  Pensa- 
cola  was  still  intact !  Fort  Pickens  was  full  of  men  and  guns, 
while  Bragg  and  his  army  were  waxing  fat  on  the  hog  and  hominy 
sent  to  them  from  Mobile,  and,  although  Bragg  and  the  commander 
of  the  fort  wrote  no  more  letters  to  each  other,  the  entente  cordiale 
still  existed,  and  both  sides  had  plenty  of  time  to  study  Jomini  if 
so  disposed. 

As  to  the  nayy,  it  is  said  the  several  commanding  officers 
grounded  on  the  beef-bones  thrown  overboard  from  their  flag 
ships,  but  this  I  do  not  believe. 

There  was  certainly  something  in  the  air  of  Pensacola  that  af 
fected  the  army  and  the  navy,  and  even  the  Confederates  seemed 
loath  to  change  the  condition  of  affairs.  If  the  war  throughout  the 
country  had  only  been  carried  on  in  this  fashion,  what  a  blessing  it 
would  have  been,  how  many  lives  would  have  been  saved,  and  how 
much  hog  and  hominy  would  have  been  eaten ! 

I  think  the  fall  of  Pensacola  is  a  piece  of  unwritten  history. 
There  were  so  many  important  events  occurring  at  the  time  that 
its  occupation  was  hardly  noticed.  The  people  of  the  country  only 
knew  that  an  important  place  was  once  more  in  Union  hands. 

After  the  capture  of  New  Orleans  I  was  ordered  by  Flag  Officer 
Farragut  to  proceed  to  Ship  Island,  in  Mississippi  Sound,  with  all 
the  vessels  composing  the  Mortar  Flotilla,  and  await  him  there,  but 
in  the  mean  time  to  undertake  no  expedition  without  orders. 
Farragut  said  that  he  would  join  me  in  five  days,  when  we  would 
sail  into  Mobile  Bay  and  attack  the  forts. 

This  was  different  from  the  programme  laid  down  by  the  Navy 
Department,  as  Farragut  was  ordered,  after  capturing  New  Orleans, 
to  proceed  up  the  Mississippi,  capture  Vicksburg,  and,  if  possible, 
open  the  river  in  its  entire  length. 

Had  Farragut  attacked  Mobile  at  that  time  he  would  have  ob 
tained  an  easy  victory,  and  would  not  have  acquired  the  renown  he 
subsequently  gained  in  his  capture  of  that  place,  which  I  think  one 
of  the  most  daring  feats  of  the  war,  requiring  the  greatest  coolness 
and  skill  against  superior  force. 

I  remained  three  weeks  at  Ship  Island,  hearing  nothing  from 
Farragut,  and  began  to  think  he  had  forgotten  me.  I  afterward 
learned  that  he  was  operating  against  Vicksburg. 

My  officers  and  men  grew  restless  at  our  inaction,  and  one  fine 
morning,  when  the  wind  was  fair,  I  made  signal  to  the  mortar 


PRACTICING  ON  FORT  MORGAN.  39 

schooners  and  steamers  to  get  under  way  for  Mobile,  determined  to 
attack  the  forts.  I  forgot  all  about  Farragut's  orders. 

"When  we  arrived  within  eight  miles  of  the  place  the  wind  sud 
denly  chopped  around  ahead,  with  indications  of  a  gale.  I  pushed 
on  with  the  seven  steamers  of  the  flotilla,  signaling  the  mortar 
schooners  to  beat  up  to  the  anchorage,  which  I  supposed  they  could 
do  in  two  or  three  hours. 

I  found  the  steam  frigate  Colorado,  Lieutenant-Commanding 
Davis,  off  the  bar,  and,  obtaining  a  pilot,  proceeded  inside  to  within 
gunshot  of  Fort  Morgan.  The  Morgan  and  Selma,  two  Confederate 
gun-boats,  were  lying  in  the  harbor. 

We  had  some  heavy  rifled  guns  in  the  flotilla  steamers  and 
several  eleven-inch  Dahlgrens,  and  I  thought  we  might  as  well 
practice  a  little  on  Fort  Morgan  until  the  mortar  schooners  came 
up. 

We  opened  fire,  and  had  it  all  our  own  way.  Our  shot  struck 
the  fort  every  time,  knocking  stones  and  bricks  about  in  a  lively 
fashion.  There  was  no  reply,  nor  could  we  see  any  people  moving 
about  the  enemy's  works. 

TVe  had  fired  some  twenty  shot  and  shell  when  it  came  on  to 
blow  heavily.  One  of  the  enemy's  gun-boats  was  seen  to  leave  the 
anchorage  near  the  fort  and  start  in  the  direction  of  Mobile, 
crowded  with  people.  I  could  not  understand  the  movement,  but 
supposed  the  fort  had  no  guns  that  would  reach  us,  and  the  Con 
federates  were  trying  to  draw  us  farther  in. 

The  gale  increased  and  I  became  uneasy  about  the  mortar 
schooners,  and  sent  the  steamers  to  get  them  safe  into  Ship  Island 
again.  I  remained  at  anchor  in  the  Harriet  Lane  within  gunshot 
of  the  fort,  thinking  that  perhaps  in  the  morning  one  of  the  enemy's 
gun-boats  might  offer  me  battle. 

That  night  the  wind  blew  so  hard  from  the  northward  that 
the  Harriet  Lane  dragged  out  to  sea  and  had  for  a  time  to  ride  out 
the  gale  head-to. 

Next  morning  at  daylight  a  boat  containing  four  deserters  from 
Fort  Morgan  went  alongside  the  Colorado.  They  informed  Lieu 
tenant  Davis  that  the  fort  was  garrisoned  partly  with  a  Mobile  fire- 
company  of  seventy-five  men  ;  that  a  good  many  of  these  men  had 
insisted  on  going  up  to  the  city  in  the  gun-boat,  leaving  not  more- 
than  one  hundred  and  thirty  remaining  in  the  fort.  This  news 
came  too  late.  Davis  could  do  nothing,  as  his  ship  could  not  cross 
the  bar. 


40     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

In  the  mean  time  I  was  heading  the  sea  in  a  northeast  gale  and 
slowly  approaching  Pensacola.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  untoward 
events  of  the  day,  Fort  Morgan  would  have  fallen  into  my  hands 
without  a  struggle,  but  it  was  some  time  afterward  before  I  learned 
all  this. 

We  had  worked  along  to  within  about  twelve  miles  of  Pensa 
cola,  when  I  was  informed  that  large  fires  were  burning  at  that 
place,  and  that  shells  could  be  seen  bursting  in  the  air. 

It  seems  that  when  the  Confederates  in  Fort  Morgan  saw  the 
mortar  flotilla  approaching,  they  telegraphed  to  Pensacola,  "Far- 
ragut  is  coming  to  attack  us  with  his  whole  force." 

The  Confederate  commander  at  Pensacola  knew  that  his  posi 
tion  was  untenable  with  Farragut's  fleet  so  near,  and  he  fully  ex 
pected  that  Farragut  would  pay  him  a  visit  as  soon  as  he  finished 
with  Fort  Morgan  ;  so,  in  half  an  hour  after  receiving  the  news  from 
Mobile,  the  navy-yard,  naval  hospital,  and  all  the  other  public  build 
ings  were  in  a  blaze,  and  by  daylight  next  morning  the  Confeder 
ate  army  which  had  lain  inactive  so  long  was  in  full  retreat  from 
Pensacola. 

The  moment  the  flames  appeared  in  the  navy-yard,  Fort  Pick- 
ens  opened  fire  on  the  retreating  foe  with  all  the  batteries,  and  it 
was  the  shells  from  the  fort  and  the  burning  navy-yard  that  we 
saw  at  midnight  from  the  deck  of  the  Harriet  Lane. 

We  put  on  as  much  steam  as  the  gale  would  allow  and  forced 
the  vessel  along — bows  under  half  the  time — toward  the  scene  of 
conflagration,  and  just  before  daylight  reached  the  dock  at  Fort 
Pickens,  where  I  found  that  the  commanding  officer  of  the  fort 
had  not  a  boat  to  send  over  to  try  and  extinguish  the  flames. 
After  a  year's  hard  labor  in  preparing  Fort  Pickens  to  resist 
Bragg,  it  had  never  occurred  to  any  one  that  the  Confederates 
might  some  day  set  fire  to  Uncle  Sam's  valuable  property  and  de 
camp  for  parts  unknown. 

I  made  a  temporary  ferry-boat  of  the  Harriet  Lane  and  landed 
about  four  hundred  soldiers  at  the  navy-yard  to  try  and  put  out  the 
fire,  but  it  was  too  late ;  the  mischief  had  been  accomplished,  and 
the  Confederates  had  left  nothing  but  desolation  behind  them.  All 
that  was  movable  they  carried  off,  but,  as  if  in  mockery,  left  the  com 
mandant's  quarters  standing  for  the  next  commandant  to  occupy. 

The  Confederates  pretended  that  the  shells  from  Fort  Pickens 
destroyed  the  navy-yard,  and  they  probably  did  assist  in  its  destruc 
tion.  The  rebel  batteries  turned  out  to  be  mostly  shams,  as  I  had 


HOW  WE  WERE  GREETED  AT  PENSACOLA.     41 

suspected.  A  few  old  thirty-two  pounders  were  mounted  in  con 
spicuous  positions,  where  they  could  do  no  harm,  and  many  formi 
dable-looking  casemates  had  no  guns  in  them. 

When  one  looks  back  he  can  not  but  smile  at  the  folly  commit 
ted  at  Pensacola  on  both  the  Union  and  Confederate  sides.  The 
finale  left  on  my  mind  the  impression  that  the  Confederate  cabinet 
also  contained  some  old  women. 

Another  amusing  episode  was  to  come.     I  offered  to  go  with 

General to  Pensacola  to  receive  the  keys  of  the  city  from  the 

municipal  authorities,  thinking  what  a  triumph  it  would  be  to 
receive  the  surrender  of  this  ancient  burgh  and  figure  in  history  in 
connection  with  so  glorious  an  event !  How  the  loyal  people  of  the 
North  would  rejoice  over  the  capture  of  this  stronghold,  which  had 
defied  for  more  than  a  year  the  combined  efforts  of  our  army  and 
navy  I 

As  we  approached  the  landing  in  the  Harriet  Lane  my  heart 
palpitated,  for  I  saw  a  crowd  of  Union  people  assembling  to  meet 
us  and  to  restore  once  more  that  loyal  city  to  its  allegiance. 

But  when  we  lauded,  our  pleasant  anticipations  were  changed  to 
surprise  at  finding,  instead  of  loyal  citizens,  a  crowd  of  ragged  ne 
groes  grinning  from  ear  to  ear  and  turning  somersaults  to  testify 
their  delight.  Amid  all  their  squalor  and  ignorance  shone  out 
a  true  affection  for  the  old  flag  which  they  could  never  feel  for 
the  new  one  that  had  been  made  and  presented  by  the  ladies  of 
Pensacola  to  General  Bragg  on  his  assuming  command.  The  ne 
groes  kept  their  eyes  on  the  flag  flying  at  the  peak  of  the  Harriet 
Lane,  and  shouted  for  Mr.  Linkum's  gun-boats  until  they  were 
hoarse. 

We  saw  but  one  white  man,  but  he  was  a  host  in  himself,  and 
indemnified  us  for  the  absence  of  his  fellows. 

The  gentleman  in  question  was  attired  without  regard  to  ex 
pense.  He  wore  a  blue  coat  with  brass  buttons,  a  white  vest,  and 
yellow  nankeen  trousers.  His  huge  shirt-ruffle — or,  as  the  sailors 
termed  it,  his  head-sail — stuck  out  a  foot  at  least,  while  his  shirt- 
frills  were  fastened  by  a  big  diamond.  His  hat  was  nicely  brushed, 
and  his  boots  shone  as  if  a  dozen  darkies  had  exercised  their  skill 
upon  them. 

He  advanced  toward  us,  hat  in  hand,  and,  bowing  low,  exclaimed  : 
"Welcome  once  more,  my  glorious  old  flag  and  my  beloved  fellow 
Union-men.  I  feel  now  that  I  shall  receive  protection  from  the 
laws  of  my  country.  I  am  Mr.  B m,  gentlemen,  a  leading 


42     INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

citizen  of  Pensacola,  who  for  the  past  year  have  dwelt  beneath  the 
folds  of  an  alien  flag  and  who  have  been  despoiled  of  my  goods  and 
chattels  worse  than  the  Egyptians  were  of  old.  I  welcome  you  to 
this  loyal  city,  where  I  hope  the  tramp  of  the  rebel  hosts  will  never 
more  be  heard,  and  that  we  may  never  again  be  deprived  of  that 
dear  flag  which  has  sheltered  me  from  boyhood,  and  of  which  I 
have  dreamed  every  night  since  it  was  replaced  by  that  meaning 
less  rag  which  no  one  could  respect,  much  less  revere.  There  are  a 
thousand,  aye,  ten  thousand  associations — " 

There  is  no  knowing  how  long  this  eloquent  gentleman  would 
have  continued  his  patriotic  harangue  had  not  General inter 
rupted  the  flow  of  his  eloquence  by  inquiring  why  the  municipal 
authorities  were  not  present  to  surrender  the  city. 

"Ah!"  replied  Mr.  B m,  "the  city  is  at  your  feet — a 

child  that  has  been  wronged,  asking  a  mother's  protection.  When 
Eome  governed  the  world,  it  was  only  necessary  to  say  'I  am  a 
Roman  citizen '  to  insure  every  consideration.  Will  not  our  great 
Eepublic— " 

"  Where  are  the  Mayor  and  City  Council  ?  "  interrupted  the 
general. 

"I  am  truly  sorry  to  say,  sir,"  replied  Mr.  B m,  "that  the 

fleeing  rebels  have  taken  the  Mayor's  teams  into  their  service  to 
carry  their  spoils  to  Mobile,  and  the  City  Council,  poor  fellows ! 
were  all  pressed  into  the  rebel  army,  and  are  now — Heaven  help 
them  ! — shouldering  a  musket  under  a  government  they  abhor,  for 
they  are  all,  I  assure  you,  sir,  devoted  to  the  Union.  In  the  absence, 

then,  of  municipal  government,"  continued  Mr.  B m,  "let  me 

extend  to  you  the  liberty  of  the  city  and  welcome  you  to  our  once 
hospitable  but  now  deserted  halls." 

At  this  moment  an  old  negro  touched  my  elbow.  "Massa 
Capen,"  he  said,  "  can't  you  gib  an  ole  darkey  a  quarter  ?  I  ain't 
seen  no  Union  silber  fo'  mo'  dan  a  year." 

I  dropped  back  to  give  the  old  fellow  a  quarter. 

"It  ain't  zactly  because  I  want  a  quarter  so  bad,  Massa  Capen, 
dat  I  spoke  ter  yer,  but  because  I  wants  a  chance  ter  tell  yer  about  dat 

Mr.  B m.  He's  de  biggest  ole  rebel  in  all  dese  parts.  I  hearn 

him  talk  wen  Gen'ral  Bragg  come  here,  an'  he  say  mo'  about  de  new 
flowery  kingdom  an'  glory  halleluyah  dan  he  done  say  to-day  by 

a  jugful.  Mrs.  B m  she  done  make  de  rebel  flag  what  floated 

over  de  heads  of  de  soldiers,  an'  she  sent  General  Bragg  a  dozen 
fresh  eggs  every  mornin'  for  he's  breakfast,  and  I'll  bet  a  water- 


THE   PERSONIFICATION   OF  A  UNION  WOMAN.          43 

million  she'll  tell  you  Union  gemplimen  dat  she  ain't  seen  nary  a 
egg  since  dem  rebels  come  to  dese  parts  and  rohbed  her  hen-roost. 

Don't  mind  what  dat  lady  will  say.  Wust  ob  all,  Mr.  B m 

done  got  fifty  tousand  dollars  congealed  in  his  cellar  way  down 
under  de  foundation  to  keep  de  rebels  from  gobblin'  it,  and  to  keep 
you  from  knowin'  he  had  it.  Dat's  de  kine  ob  Union  man  he  is.  I 
bress  de  Lord,"  continued  the  old  darkey,  "dat  Mr.  Linkum's  gun 
boats  is  come  ;  but  don't  breave  a  word  ob  what  dis  nigga  tole  you. 
If  de  rebs  was  to  fine  it  out  dey'd  bile  dis  ole  man  in  de  coppers." 

"  Don't  be  afraid,"  said  I  as  I  gave  the  old  Unionist  a  half-dol 
lar,  which  he  tucked  into  his  shoe  and  made  off. 

Mr.  B m  then  invited  us  all  to  his  house.  The  general 

had  his  staff  with  him,  consisting  of  seven  officers,  and  I  had  with 
me  the  captain  of  the  Harriet  Lane  and  his  aid. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  house  and  were  shown  into  the  parlor 

we  were  introduced  to  Mrs.  B m,  a  stately  lady,  who  smiled 

pleasantly  and  received  us  most  graciously. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  B m,  "you  see  before  you  in  Mrs. 

B m  the  personification  of  a  Union  woman — one  who  not  merely 

loves  but  adores  our  glorious  old  flag.  She  has  undergone  every 
privation  on  account  of  her  devotion  to  that  banner  under  which 
she  was  born.  For  years  past  she  has  owned  twenty  niggers,  and 
they  have  all  been  employed  at  the  navy-yard  at  a  dollar  a  day 
each,  thus  giving  her  an  income — not  exactly  net — of  six  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.  How  could  she  help  loving  that  dear  old 
flag  ?  She  has  borne  like  a  heroine  the  insults  heaped  on  that 
flag  by  the  enemies  of  our  great  Republic,  knowing  that  the  day 
would  come  when,  like  the  Phoenix,  it  would  rise  from  its  ashes, 
every  star  in  its  glorious  galaxy  brighter  and  more  beautiful  than 
ever.  She  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  small  fragment  of  the  flag  which 
was  lowered  by  traitor  hands  when  the  navy-yard  was  surrendered 
to  unlawful  authority  (Mr.  B.'s  son-in-law  was  one  of  those  who 
surrendered  it),  and  she  has  preserved  it  to  this  time,  when  she  can 
joyfully  bring  it  to  the  light  of  day. — Bertha,  where  is  that  pre 
cious  relic  ?  " 

Mrs.  B m  produced  a  piece  of  red  and  blue  bunting  very 

much  soiled. 

"There,"  continued  her  husband,  "there's  loyalty  for  you  ;  she 
has  carried  that  relic  in  a  bag  on  her  arm  ever  since  the  fateful  day 
when  the  stars  and  stripes  were  trailed  in  the  dust  in  the  navy-yard. 
Now,  when  the  flag  is  again  hoisted,  she  will  reap  her  reward,  and 


44     INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

her  faithful  servants  will  once  more  be  paid  their  dollar  a  day,  and 
she  receive  the  income  she  has  so  well  deserved  hy  her  fidelity  to 

the  sacred  Union.  And  now,  Mrs.  B m,"  he  continued,  "  can't 

you  manage  to  give  these  gentlemen  some  breakfast  ?  They  must 
be  hungry  after  such  early  rising." 

"I  am  very  sorry,  love,"  said  Mrs.  B.,  "  that  I  can  not  provide 
for  so  many,  but  I  can  take  care  of  the  general  and  the  two  navy 
captains.  You  know  we  had  but  a  small  quantity  of  tea  and  coffee 
left  and  a  few  pounds  of  sugar  after  the  rebels  rifled  our  house, 
and  I  have  saved  it  for  this  very  occasion,  which  I  knew  would  come 
sooner  or  later." 

"Thoughtful  woman  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  B m  ;  "  what  loyal 
ty  !  and  to  think  she  has  denied  herself  and  family  at  times  when 
we  were  starving ;  but  the  joy  of  this  occasion  is  her  reward." 

"But  I  am  sorry,  my  dear,"  continued  Mrs.  B.,  "that  there  are 
but  two  eggs  in  the  house,  and  only  one  loaf  of  bread  and  a  small 
piece  of  butter." 

"Ah,  that  is  unfortunate,"  said  her  husband.  "You  see,  Gen 
eral,  we  used  to  have  plenty  of  eggs,  but  our  hens  would  not  lay 
under  the  rebel  flag.  Oh,  sir,  the  suppressed  loyalty  in  Pensacola 
is  most  wonderful ;  our  cow  has  not  given  anything  like  the  quan 
tity  of  milk  she  once  did  under  the  old  flag." 

I  thought  this  was  not  surprising,  as  Mrs.  B.'s  supply  of  bran 
and  meal  for  the  cow  was  doubtless  limited  since  the  old  flag  was 
hauled  down. 

Mr.  B m  pondered  a  while,  and  Lieutenant-Commanding 

Wainwright  whispered  to  me,  "  Perhaps  if  they  take  the  cow  down 
to  the  dock  and  let  her  look  at  the  old  flag  her  milk  will  come 
down  and  we  will  get  a  good  breakfast  after  all." 

"Well,"  said  B m,  "I  have  arranged  it  for  all.  The  gen 
eral  and  captains  will  do  us  the  honor  to  breakfast  with  us,  and  I 
will  have  the  other  gentlemen  shown  to  the  hotel,  which  of  yore 
has  entertained  many  a  gallant  Union  officer,  and  will  be  most  happy 
to  do  so  again.  The  proprietor  is  Union  to  the  core,  and  no  doubt 
can  supply  all  the  gentlemen's  wants.  I  will  go  with  you  and 
introduce  you  myself,"  and  with  that  he  led  the  way,  followed  by 
the  hungry  party,  much  disappointed  at  not  getting  breakfast 
where  they  first  stopped. 

In  the  mean  while  the  general,  Wainwright,  and  myself  were 

entertained  by  Mrs.  B m,  who  was  very  discreet  in  her  replies 

to  our  questions.  "We  could  get  nothing  beyond  the  prices  of  pro- 


A  BREAKFAST   WITH   MODEL   UNIONISTS.  45 

visions  and  the  difficulty  of  procuring  employment  for  the  twenty 
negroes  from  whom  she  derived  her  income. 

Mr.  B m  soon  returned,  and  we  sat  down  to  breakfast — two 

eggs,  toast,  radishes,  tea,  and  coffee. 

"  This  is  glorious,"  said  our  host,  "to  sit  once  more  under  the 
folds  of  the  star-spangled  banner.  May  our  Federal  Union  be  for 
ever  preserved  from  the  wild  fanatics  who  would  pull  it  from  the 
proud  pedestal  on  which  it  was  reared  by  Washington,  Adams,  and 
Jefferson !  Secession,  gentlemen,  can  not  hurt  the  Union.  It  is 
but  an  incident  in  the  life  of  a  mighty  nation  like  ours,  a  fungus 
that  clings  to  the  great  oak  doing  little  injury  to  the  monarch  of 
the  forest." 

"You  had  better  drink  your  tea,  Mr.  B m,"  interrupted 

his  wife,  "before  it  gets  cold,  and  it  will  make  you  still  more  elo 
quent,"  she  said,  with  a  grim  smile. 

Then  the  general  broke  in.  "  Secession,  sir,"  said  he,  "  is  the 
craziest  scheme  that  was  ever  promulgated,  and  had  General  Jack 
son  been  President  he  would  have  hung  all  the  leaders  in  the  move 
ment  to  a  lamp-post." 

"  It  would  have  taken  a  strong  lamp-post  to  hold  them  all," 
said  Mrs.  B m,  tartly. 

"Oh,  my  dear,"  said  her  husband,  "the  general  is  only  speak 
ing  figuratively." 

"  No,"  said  the  general,  "  I  mean  exactly  what  I  say  ;  but,"  he 
continued,  "  this  unhappy  war  is  nearly  ended.  The  strength  of  the 
Union  is  manifested  in  every  quarter.  We  have  whipped  the  rebels 
at  Donaldson,  Fort  Henry,  Island  No.  10,  and  Memphis  ;  we  have 
them  on  the  run.  The  navy  has  been  successful  at  Hatteras,  Port 
Royal,  and  New  Orleans.  That  last  affair  broke  the  backbone  of 
the  rebellion.  Our  little  Monitor  defeated  their  great  Merrimac. 
We  have  all  the  Southern  ports  blockaded,  and  not  a  traitor  of 
them  all  can  escape  from  the  country." 

There  is  no  knowing  how  long  the  general  would  have  contin 
ued  in  this  strain  if  attention  had  not  been  drawn  to  Mrs.  B m. 

Her  eyes  gleamed  like  those  of  a  tigress,  her  face  was  red  with 
anger,  her  lips  were  compressed,  and  the  tea-pot  which  she  held 
trembled  violently  in  her  hand. 

"I  suppose  you  whipped  us  at  Shiloh?"  she  hissed,  looking 
fiercely  at  the  general ;  "  at  Bull  Run,  too,  didn't  you  ?  The  Con 
gress  and  Cumberland  sunk  the  Merrimac,  didn't  they  ?  You  caught 
Semmes,  and  he  didn't  destroy  fifteen  millions  of  your  miserable 


46      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Yankee  commerce  !  You  mounted  a  hundred  guns  on  Fort  Pickens 
to  batter  down  the  old  straw  forts  Bragg  put  up  to  frighten  you 
with  !  We  will  march  into  Washington  yet  before  we  are  done  with 
you,  and  we'll  see  who  will  hang  at  a  lamp-post ! " 

By  this  time  the  lady  was  so  excited  that  she  had  risen  from  her 
chair,  tea-pot  in  hand,  scattering  its  contents  on  all  around.  "  Drat 
you  all ! "  she  exclaimed.  "  I  don't  care  if  I  scald  every  one  of  you. 

Here,  Mr.  B m,  take  the  tea-pot  and  pour  out.  You  are  only 

fit  to  wear  petticoats.  I  leave  you  to  entertain  your  Union  friends. 
I  wish  you  gentlemen  to  understand  that  I  am  a  Southern  woman 
and  B m  is  a  sham  !  " 

With  that  she  flounced  out  of  the  room  and  was  seen  no  more. 

Mr.  B m  was  stupefied,  the  general  looked  surprised,  while  I 

laughed  heartily. 

"  This  episode  makes  this  otherwise  joyful  occasion  sad  to  me," 

said  B m.  "  My  loyal  wife  has  been  taken  with  one  of  her 

nervous  attacks,  and  her  mind  has  become  unhinged  through  excess 
of  joy.  The  sight  of  our  old  flag  floating  over  our  lovely  bay  has  been 
too  much  for  her,  and  her  unsettled  mind  imagines  that  she  is  on 
the  Confederate  side.  Give  her  time,  gentlemen,  to  take  an  ano 
dyne,  and  she  will  be  herself  again.  Heavens,  what  a  mind  she  has  ! " 

But  Mrs.  B m  returned  no  more,  and  we  ate  our  break 
fast  in  quiet.  All  the  eloquence  had  departed  from  B m,  and 

his  shirt-ruffle  hung  limp  as  if  it  had  been  dipped  in  water. 

In  a  short  time  he  went  out,  for  the  purpose,  I  suppose,  of  ap 
peasing  his  better-half.  High  words  were  heard  up-stairs,  and,  as  he 
re-entered  the  room,  a  shrill  voice  cried  out,  "  I'll  see  you  scalded 
first!" 

After  breakfast  we  departed  for  the  boat,  Mr.  B m  accom 
panying  us  and  never  ceasing  to  eulogize  his  loyal  wife  and  the 
dear  old  flag.  At  the  landing  my  old  negro  friend  again  accosted 
me. 

"  What  I  done  tole  you,  massa,  about  dem  B ms  ?  You 

foun'  'em  out  a  sham  ?  No  ?  Well,"  he  continued,  "  dat  lady  is  a 

screamer  an'  no  mistake,  an*  if  she  don't  wallop  Massa  B m  fo 

sundown  den  dis  ole  nigga  don't  know  nuffin." 

B m  was  loyal  to  the  last,  and  joined  the  negroes  in  their 

cheers  as  our  boat  shoved  off  from  the  dock,  and  swung  his  hat  as 
long  as  we  could  see  him. 

Before  the  war  was  ended  I  met  many  such  "Union  people"  as 
the  B- ms. 


THE   DEFENSES  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  47 

A  few  days  after  this  I  had  all  the  mortar  vessels  at  Pensacola, 
so  that  their  crews  could  get  fresh  provisions.  By  this  time  all  the 
people  were  Unionists  except  Mrs.  B.,  and  I  think  she  would  have 
been  also  had  the  Government  re-established  the  navy-yard  and  em 
ployed  her  twenty  negroes. 

Five  days  later  I  received  an  order  from  Farragut  to  repair  to 
Vicksburg  with  the  vessels  under  my  command,  and  thus  ended 
my  dream  of  capturing  Mobile,  which  at  that  time  would  have  been 
an  easy  matter  to  accomplish.  The  Confederates  afterward  fortified 
it  strongly,  planted  torpedoes,  and  added  to  their  defenses  the  for 
midable  ironclad  Tennessee. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    ATTACK    ON    NEW    ORLEANS — SURRENDER    OF    THE     FORTS — 
THE  IRONCLAD  LOUISIANA. 

ONE  of  the  most  brilliant  events  of  the  civil  war  was  the  pas 
sage  of  Farragut's  fleet  by  the  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  and 
the  consequent  capture  of  New  Orleans.  It  was  altogether  a  naval 
enterprise,  for,  although  an  army  was  sent  out  under  Butler  to  hold 
the  city  after  its  capture,  that  army  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  preceding  active  operations. 

Everything  relating  to  the  capture  of  New  Orleans  must  always 
be  interesting.  I  do  not  propose  to  give  a  history  of  the  passage  of 
the  forts,  but  merely  a  short  account  of  the  surrender  of  the  de 
fenses  of  New  Orleans.  Eemarkable  scenes  were  enacted  there  of 
which,  I  believe,  no  one  has  yet  written  a  full  and  accurate  account. 

I  had  in  the  flotilla  under  my  command  twenty-one  mortar  ves 
sels  and  six  steamers.  The  duty  of  the  steamers  was  to  look  out 
for  the  mortars  and  tow  them  from  point  to  point. 

On  the  night  when  it  was  planned  to  pass  the  forts,  the  steam 
ers  of  my  flotilla  were  ordered  to  take  position  opposite  the  water- 
batteries  of  Fort  Jackson  and  as  close  to  them  as  possible,  and  open 
fire  with  grape  or  canister  and  shrapnel  while  the  fleet  passed  by. 

This  was  done  effectually,  and  by  the  time  Captain  Bailey,  who 
took  the  lead,  had  got  abreast  of  the  forts  and  the  enemy  opened 
fire  on  him,  we  opened  on  Fort  Jackson  with  the  mortars  and 
twenty  guns  from  five  steamers. 


48      INCIDENTS   AND    ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

The  steamers  lay  close  in  to  the  bank — only  about  two  hundred 
yards  distant  from  the  works — and,  although  the  vessels'  hulls  were 
protected  by  the  levees  from  the  casemated  pieces,  yet  the  barbette- 
guns  opened  rather  lively.  The  first  man  killed  in  the  fleet  was 
on  board  the  Harriet  Lane. 

In  fifteen  minutes  after  the  steamers  opened  fire  on  the  seven 
heavy  guns  of  the  center  battery  it  was  silenced  and  did  no  harm 
to  the  passing  fleet.  In  fact,  only  twenty  shots  struck  the  hulls  of 
the  fleet  on  their  port  sides,  which  shows  that  the  fire  of  the  mortar 
flotilla  was  very  accurate.  Farragut  calls  it  "  the  mortar  steamers 
taking  the  forts  in  flank,"  which  was  a  very  good  explanation  of 
the  movement. 

As  the  fleet  passed  by  me  up  the  river  I  could,  while  standing 
on  the  bridge  of  the  Harriet  Lane,  see  every  movement  that  was 
made.  The  whole  extent  of  the  river  for  a  mile  above  the  forts 
was  as  light  as  day,  owing  to  the  enemy  igniting  several  fire-rafts, 
which  illuminated  the  fleet  and  forts  as  if  in  a  diorama. 

When  the  last  vessel  had  passed  by,  Colonel  Higgins,  who  com 
manded  Fort  Jackson,  exclaimed,  "  Shut  up  shop  ;  the  old  navy  is 
too  much  for  us;  good-by,  New  Orleans."  He  told  his  men  tliey 
might  as  well  stop  firing  the  few  guns  that  could  then  be  brought  to 
bear,  and  get  under  cover  from  the  mortars. 

I  lay  alongside  of  Fort  Jackson  fifteen  minutes  after  Farragut 
had  passed  up,  throwing  in  a  fire  of  grape  and  shrapnel,  to  which 
there  was  no  reply. 

At  daylight  next  morning  I  dropped  down  to  the  mortar 
schooners  to  tell  them  to  stop  firing,  as  the  work  was  done.  I  met 
the  sloop  of  war  Portsmouth  coming  up  in  tow  of  a  steamer.  The 
forts  opened  on  her  feebly,  but  did  no  damage.  The  soldiers  had 
lost  heart,  and,  as  I  afterward  learned,  declined  to  be  exposed  use 
lessly  to  a  heavy  fire  from  the  mortars. 

It  had  been  a  heavy  fight  for  the  mortar  vessels  and  for  the 
poor  fellows  in  the  forts,  who  had  borne  for  six  days  and  nights  the 
heavy  pelting  on  their  casemates  of  nearly  seventeen  thousand 
thirteen-inch  shells,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fire  of  the  gun-boats 
detailed  daily  to  cover  the  mortar  vessels  from  the  fire  of  the  forts. 

Everybody  on  both  sides  was  tired  out,  and  many  dropped  in 
their  tracks  and  went  to  sleep.  As  for  myself,  I  had  had  scarcely 
any  sleep  for  seven  days  and  nights. 

After  we  had  breakfasted  and  refreshed  ourselves  I  sent  Lieuten 
ant-Commanding  Guest  to  the  forts  with  a  flag  of  truce  and  a  polite 


SURRENDER  OF   THE  FORTS.  49 

letter  to  the  commanding  officer,  advising  their  surrender  to  me  in 
order  to  prevent  the  further  effusion  of  blood — an  invitation  which 
he  as  politely  declined,  and  said  that  he  could  do  nothing  until  he 
heard  that  Flag-Officer  Farragut  and  his  fleet  had  arrived  at  New 
Orleans.  I  had,  therefore,  no  alternative  but  to  open  again  with  the 
mortars  on  Fort  Jackson  and  make  it  as  unpleasant  as  possible  for 
the  Confederates ;  but  by  four  o'clock  all  the  mortar-shells  were 
exhausted,  and  the  schooners  being,  now  useless,  I  sent  them  down 
to  Pilot  Town  to  fill  up  with  ammunition  and  six  of  them  to  appear 
in  the  rear  of  the  forts,  where  they  had  few  or  no  guns  mounted. 

What  was  the  surprise  of  the  commander  of  Fort  Jackson  when 
he  saw  in  thirty-six  hours  several  mortar  vessels  anchored  in  his 
rear  and  others  in  the  distance  approaching  ! 

The  result  was,  the  soldiers  in  the  forts  mutinied  and  insisted 
on  a  surrender,  so  that,  however  unwilling,  the  officers  were  forced 
to  comply. 

That  night  General  Duncan  sent  an  officer  in  a  boat  to  say  to  me 
that  he  would  surrender  the  forts  next  morning  under  honorable 
conditions,  which  were  granted  ;  for  if  ever  there  was  a  brave  de 
fense,  it  was  that  of  Fort  Jackson,  which  got  all  the  hammering 
from  the  mortars  and  most  of  the  fire  from  the  ships. 

Here  was  to  be  a  meeting  of  old  shipmates  who  were  serving  on 
either  side,  and  who,  after  messing  together  many  years  under  the 
old  flag,  had  been  trying  for  the  past  week  to  inflict  every  sort  of 
injury  on  one  another  that  ingenuity  could  devise. 

There  was  an  actual  desire  on  the  part  of  some  to  meet  their 
old  acquaintances  and  talk  over  the  events  of  the  siege,  for  the  sur 
render  was  to  include  all  the  naval  officers  and  whatever  vessels  yet 
remained  afloat.  This  had  been  stipulated  by  Lieutenant-Com 
manding  Guest  when  he  called  on  General  Duncan  about  the  sur 
render. 

There  was  quite  a  large  number  of  naval  officers  employed  in 
the  Confederate  river  flotilla,  in  the  rams,  and  the  ironclad  Louisi 
ana,  and  a  corresponding  number  on  our  side. 

I  was  determined  that  the  Southerners  should  see  no  diminu 
tion  of  discipline  in  the  old  navy,  and  that  when  we  went  to  take 
possession  of  the  forts  we  would  go  dressed  up  for  muster,  or,  as 
they  say  in  the  navy  nowadays,  dress  parade. 

On  the  morning  of  the  surrender,  signal  was  made  for  the  crews 
of  our  vessels  to  dress  in  white  mustering  suits,  and  the  officers  in 
frock-coats  and  white  trousers,  everything  looking  as  neat  as  pos- 

4 


50      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

sible.  I  was  determined  that  the  Southern  fellows  of  the  old  navy 
should  see  that  we  had  not  gone  to  the  devil,  but  still  wore  clean 
shirts  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances ;  that  we  were  not 
only  true  to  our  flag,  but  to  our  old  traditional  neatness,  even  after 
a  hard-fought  battle  of  a  week's  duration. 

Flag-Officer  Farragut,  after  passing  the  forts,  had  gone  on  up  the 
river  to  New  Orleans,  carrying  everything  before  him  and  scatter 
ing  the  troops  in  the  defenses  along  the  river  like  sheep ;  but  he 
had  left  behind  him  some  rather  ugly  customers,  among  them 
the  Louisiana,  a  huge  ironclad  mounting  sixteen  nine-inch 
guns,  four  or  five  of  them  rifled,  and  impervious  to  any  shot 
we  had. 

Fortunately,  her  machinery  was  out  of  order,  and  she  could  not 
move  without  the  aid  of  tow-boats  ;  but  had  her  officers  possessed 
sufficient  energy  they  might  have  captured  or  destroyed  everything 
on  the  river  after  our  fleet  passed  on  up. 

Farragut  showed  his  confidence  in  the  mortar  flotilla  by  leaving 
us  to  look  after  the  ironclad  and  her  three  consorts,  and  perhaps, 
had  the  Louisiana  come  down  and  attacked  us,  we  might  have 
managed  to  dispose  of  her  ? 

Our  little  squadron  of  steamers  now  comprised  nine  vessels — 
three  of  them  gun-boats  that  had  failed  to  pass  the  forts  with  the 
fleet,  not  from  want  of  gallantry,  but  from  various  causes.  Fragile 
as  our  little  vessels  were,  they  made  an  imposing  sight  as  they 
steamed  up  to  the  fort  in  line  and  anchored  en  echelon  across  the 
river. 

The  huge  Louisiana  was  secured  to  the  bank  about  four  hundred 
yards  above,  and  it  could  be  seen  that  her  iron  sides  had  not  even 
been  indented  by  the  shot  poured  into  her  as  the  vessels  of  the 
squadron  passed  by.  I  thought  what  an  addition  she  would  be 
to  our  force,  for  with  her  guns  we  could  batter  down  any  forts  the 
enemy  might  erect  along  the  river.  In  my  mind's  eye  I  could  al 
ready  see  the  fortifications  at  Vicksburg  succumbing  to  this  power 
ful  vessel,  and  I  thanked  my  stars  that  she  had  not  been  used  as  she 
might  have  been  and  driven  us  all  out  of  the  river. 

There  she  lay,  a  huge  leviathan  among  minnows,  her  flag  flying 
and  three  gun-boats  near  by.  I  was  not  certain  but  what  some 
act  of  treachery  would  be  attempted  before  the  capitulation  of  the 
forts  was  accomplished. 

"When  our  vessels  were  all  at  anchor,  ready  to  receive  the  officers 
of  the  forts,  a  barge  was  sent  on  shore  for  them,  while  the  officers 


THE  CAPITULATION.  51 

and  crews  of  the  steamers  were  kept  at  quarters,  ready  for  any  emer 
gency. 

When  the  Confederate  officers  came  down  to  embark,  Colonel 
Higgins,  formerly  a  lieutenant  in  the  navy,  who  commanded  Fort 
Jackson,  paused  for  a  moment  and  said  to  the  commanding  officer, 
General  Duncan  :  "Look  at  the  old  navy  !  I  feel  proud  when  I  see 
them.  There  are  no  half-breeds  there  ;  they  are  the  Simon-pure. 
With  fellows  like  those  to  back  us,  Farragut  would  never  have 
passed  the  forts."  What  he  meant  will  appear  directly. 

The  Confederate  officers  were  received  at  the  gangway  by  myself 
and  officers,  and,  when  they  stepped  on  board,  one  would  have  sup 
posed  they  were  foreigners  paying  us  a  visit  of  ceremony.  They 
were  fine-looking  men  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  showed  no  depres 
sion.  Their  bearing  was  manly  without  haughtiness. 

Although  I  knew  some  of  them,  I  did  not  think  it  necessary  to 
recognize  them  at  the  moment  beyond  a  bow  when  General  Duncan 
mentioned  each  one's  name.  I  then  invited  them  to  the  cabin, 
where  the  terms  of  capitulation  were  lying  on  the  table.  The  Con 
federate  officers  were  all  seated  on  the  port  side,  while  I  took  the 
head  of  the  table  and  my  officers  the  starboard  side.  Colonel  Hig 
gins  could  not  help  saying,  as  he  descended  to  the  cabin,  "  Captain, 
this  is  a  man-of-war  and  no  mistake." 

I  felt  much  disposed  to  recognize  Higgins,  but  I  buried  all  my 
old  friendships  with  naval  seceders  when  they  deserted  their  flag. 
In  my  opinion,  no  naval  officer  should  have  been  influenced  by 
State-rights  sophistry  to  forsake  the  flag  under  which  he  was 
born,  and  which  had  been  to  him  a  source  of  honor  and  emolu 
ment. 

If  he  could  not  give  the  Government  active  support,  he  should 
at  least  have  declined  to  raise  his  hand  against  it. 

But,  after  all,  these  are  matters  of  conscience,  and  no  man  can 
tell  how  far  he  may  be  carried  in  a  popular  excitement  until  he  is 
tried.  ^ 

I  only  know  that  I  would  never  join  a  State,  because  I  happened 
to  be  born  within  its  limits,  in  opposition  to  the  legally  constituted 
Government  of  my  country. 

Therefore,  when  I  first  met  old  friends  whom  I  thought  had 
wandered  from  their  plain  duty,  I  could  not  gush  over  them, 
though  careful  to  show  them  as  prisoners  every  kindness. 

I  felt  as  Franklin  did,  who,  on  receiving  a  letter  from  an  old 
friend  in  England  during  the  Revolution,  answered  :  "  We  were 


52      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

once  friends  ;  we  are  so  no  longer.  You  are  an  enemy  to  my  coun 
try ;  you  are  mine  also." 

At  the  same  time  I  could  not  help  admiring  in  their  misfor 
tunes  those  brave  men  who  were  about  to  sign  a  capitulation  which 
would  deprive  them  of  the  forts  they  had  so  confidently  and  gal 
lantly  defended,  and  who,  when  all  was  over  and  no  more  could  be 
done,  gave  up  without  brag  or  bluster,  and  made  no  excuses  for  their 
failure. 

I  can  not  help  admiring  bravery  even  in  a  bad  cause,  and  when 
I  went  over  the  works  and  saw  to  what  a  dreadful  hammering  the 
Confederates  had  been  subjected,  I  thought  it  not  without  honor 
for  any  one  to  have  fought  at  their  side. 

I  laid  before  the  officers  the  papers  of  capitulation.  "General 
Duncan,"  I  said,  "read  them  carefully." 

"I  will,"  he  replied,  "but  I  am  confident  you  would  offer  us 
no  terms  that  it  would  be  dishonorable  to  accept ;  one  brave  man 
would  not  wish  to  humiliate  another." 

I  acknowledged  the  compliment  so  delicately  expressed. 

"I  am  satisfied  with  the  terms,"  said  the  general,  "  and  speak 
for  the  rest  of  the  officers." 

The  terms  were  that  officers  and  men  should  sign  a  parole  not 
to  serve  against  the  United  States  Government  until  regularly  ex 
changed,  the  officers  to  retain  their  side-arms  and  be  transported 
to  New  Orleans  in  a  United  States  vessel. 

The  Confederates  were  to  turn  over  to  the  United  States  all 
ordnance,  ammunition,  stores,  and  small  arms,  as  far  as  practicable, 
uninjured — a  stipulation  which  was  religiously  observed. 

I  said  to  General  Duncan,  "  Where  is  the  commanding  naval 
officer  and  his  staff  ?  I  shall  include  the  vessels  in  the  surrender ; 
are  they  not  under  your  command  ?  " 

"Yes,"  replied  the  general,  "at  least  they  are  supposed  to  be, 
but  I  know  nothing  about  them.  The  naval  officers  were  duly 
notified  what  was  to  take  place.  They  failed  in  their  support; 
otherwise  matters  might  have  turned  out  differently." 

This  was  rather  perplexing,  and  I  was  inclined  to  postpone  the 
capitulation  until  the  commanding  naval  officer  could  be  sent  for, 
since  under  present  circumstances  the  Confederate  navy  might  open 
fire  upon  us,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  not  a  party  to  the  agree 
ment  drawn  up. 

We  were  relieved  from  this  difficulty,  however,  by  Lieutenant- 
Commanding  Wainwright  coming  into  the  cabin  and  reporting  that 


THE  LOUISIANA   IS  FIRED  AND  EXPLODES.  53 

the  officers  and  crew  of  the  Louisiana  were  leaving  her  in  a  gun 
boat,  after  setting  fire  to  the  ironclad ;  that  the  latter's  fasts  had 
been  cut,  and  she  was  drifting  rapidly  down  upon  the  line  of 
steamers. 

"This  is  sharp  practice,  gentlemen,"  I  said,  "and  some  of  us 
will  perhaps  be  blown  up  ;  but  I  know  what  to  do,  for  it  is  now 
plain  sailing.  If  you  can  stand  what  is  coming,  we  can,  but  I 
will  make  it  lively  for  those  people  if  any  one  in  the  flotilla  is 
injured." 

"We  do  not  consider  ourselves  responsible  for  anything  the 
naval  officers  may  do,"  said  Duncan.  "  Their  course  has  been  a  re 
markable  one  throughout  the  bombardment.  They  have  acknowl 
edged  no  authority  except  their  own,  and,  although  I  am  com 
manding  officer  here,  I  have  no  power  to  coerce  them." 

I  told  Lieutenant-Commanding  Wainwright  to  hail  the  steamer 
next  him  and  tell  her  captain  to  pass  the  word  to  the  others  to 
veer  out  all  their  riding  chain  to  the  bitter  end,  and  stand  by  to 
sheer  clear  of  the  burning  ironclad  as  she  drifted  down.  I  then 
sat  down  to  the  table  and  said,  "Gentlemen,  we  will  proceed  to 
sign  the  capitulation." 

I  handed  the  paper  to  General  Duncan,  and  looked  at  the  Con 
federate  officers  to  see  how  they  would  behave  under  the  circum 
stances  of  a  great  ironclad  dropping  down  on  them  all  in  flames, 
with  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  powder  in  her  magazine.  For 
myself,  I  hoped  the  fire  would  not  reach  the  powder  until  the  ship 
had  drifted  some  distance  below  us.  My  greatest  fear  was  that  she 
would  run  foul  of  some  of  the  steamers. 

While  I  was  thinking  all  this  over  the  officers  were  sitting  as 
coolly  as  if  at  tea-table  among  their  friends. 

Just  then  there  was  a  stir  on  deck,  a  kind  of  swaying  of  the 
vessel  to  and  fro,  a  rumbling  in  the  air,  then  an  explosion  which 
seemed  to  shake  the  heavens.  The  Harriet  Lane  was  thrown  two 
streaks  over,  and  everything  in  the  cabin  was  jostled  from  side 
to  side,  but  not  a  man  left  his  seat  or  showed  any  intention  of  do 
ing  so. 

I  was  glad  that  I  had  signed  before  the  explosion  took  place,  as 
I  would  not  have  liked  my  autograph  to  look  shaky. 

When  Lieutenant-Commanding  Wainwright  came  back  to  the 
cabin  he  reported  that  the  Louisiana  had  blown  up  about  a  hun 
dred  yards  above  the  Owasco,  that  no  one  was  hurt,  and  that  no 
vessel  had  left  her  anchorage. 


54:      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  told  the  Confederate  officers  that  I  had  no  doubt  the  ironclad 
had  been  prepared  to  blow  up  right  in  our  midst,  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  us  all,  to  which  the  reply  was,  "We  are  not  re 
sponsible." 

The  Confederate  officers  soon  after  went  on  shore,  hauled  down 
their  flag,  took  an  inventory  of  all  property  remaining  in  the  forts, 
mustered  their  men,  and  prepared  to  depart  from  what  they  had 
once  deemed  impregnable  works. 

As  soon  as  they  left  the  Harriet  Lane  the  signal  was  run  up, 
"  Prepare  for  action  ! "  and  I  steamed  toward  the  rebel  gun-boats, 
which  were  fastened  to  the  shore  above,  with  all  their  flags  flying. 
A  rifle-shot  was  fired  at  Commander  Mitchell's  flag-staff,  and  all 
their  flags  were  at  once  lowered. 

Thus  in  the  end  the  Confederate  navy  had  to  submit  to  force, 
when  they  could  have  gracefully  surrendered  and  had  all  the  bene 
fits  enjoyed  by  the  army. 

I  was  so  indignant  at  having  the  ironclad  Louisiana  thus  slip 
through  my  fingers  that  I  could  scarcely  refrain  from  running  the 
Confederate  flag-ship  down  and  sinking  her.  The  ironclad  would 
have  been  a  great  help  to  Farragut  in  his  operations  on  the  upper 
Mississippi,  and  would  have  been  a  match  for  the  great  ram  Ten 
nessee,  which  was  at  that  time  being  prepared  at  Mobile. 

Look  at  the  destruction  of  the  vessel  by  Mitchell's  orders  in 
any  light  you  may,  it  was  unfair.  That  was  my  opinion  at  the 
time,  and  I  have  never  seen  any  reason  to  change  it. 

When  I  came  alongside  the  Confederate  vessels,  I  found  them 
huddled  together  and  crowded  with  men.  I  hailed  and  asked  them 
if  they  had  surrendered.  They  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  I 
sent  Lieutenant  Wainwright  to  take  possession.  He  was  directed 
to  receive  only  an  unconditional  surrender,  as  I  would  grant  no 
terms. 

Commander  Mitchell,  the  senior  naval  officer,  met  Wainwright 
at  the  gangway  and  extended  his  hand.  "No,"  said  Wainwright, 
"you  are  a  prisoner." 

"  Am  I  not  to  have  the  same  terms  as  the  army  officers  ?  "  in 
quired  Mitchell. 

"No,"  replied  Wainwright,  "you  must  surrender  uncondition 
ally,  and  be  taken  North  as  a  close  prisoner.  Deliver  up  your  sword." 

As  Mitchell  had  no  sword,  he  was  obliged  to  borrow  one  for  the 
occasion  from  an  officer  who  stood  near  by. 

I  kept  my  word  and  held  no  terms  with  the  naval  officers.     I 


THE   LOUISIANA.  55 

felt  sorry  for  them,  for  among  their  number  were  some  fine  young 
fellows  whom  I  had  no  reason,  to  think  were  aiders  and  abettors  in 
a  scheme  to  destroy  a  vessel  which  rightfully  belonged  to  us,  for, 
although  not  actually  surrendered,  she  was  virtually  so,  being  in 
cluded  in  the  terms  of  capitulation. 

There  was  nothing  to  justify  the  destruction  of  the  Louisiana, 
and  I  was  much  disappointed  at  seeing  those  who  had  once  belonged 
to  the  United  States  navy  excelled  in  matters  of  honor  and  pro 
priety  by  the  officers  of  another  corps. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Confederate  naval  officers  were  all  sent 
North  by  Farragut  as  close  prisoners.  They  made  statements,  how 
ever,  which  in  the  end  procured  their  release ;  but  while  the  au 
thorities  were  satisfied,  I  never  was.  I  could  never  get  over  the 
fact  that,  when  I  went  below  with  the  Confederate  army  officers  to 
sign  the  capitulation,  the  Louisiana  was  lying  at  the  river-bank,  in 
all  her  strength  and  grandeur,  all  ready,  as  I  supposed,  to  be  turned 
over  to  me.  When  I  came  on  deck  again  the  vessel  had  disappeared. 
The  disappointment  was  great,  and  no  doubt  those  Confederates 
chuckled  with  delight  over  it. 

However,  it  didn't  really  make  any  difference  in  the  final  result, 
and  furnished  an  interesting  incident  of  the  war,  although  the 
"  incident "  came  near  closing  the  career  of  all  those  present  at  the 
capitulation  of  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip. 

What  else  relates  to  this  matter  will  be  found  in  the  official  re 
ports  of  the  day,  as  it  is  not  my  intention  to  write  a  history  of  the 
war,  but  merely  to  mention  such  incidents  as  I  think  will  interest 
the  general  reader. 

It  is  astonishing  that  the  Confederates  should  have  had  at  the 
defenses  of  New  Orleans  such  a  powerful  vessel  as  the  Louisiana, 
while  Farragut  had  nothing  but  fragile  wooden  vessels,  that  could 
be  pierced  by  any  ordinary  smooth-bore  gun ;  and  it  was  only  owing 
to  the  circumstance  that  the  Louisiana  disabled  her  machinery  while 
coming  down  the  river,  and  could  only  move  about  in  tow  of  an 
other  vessel,  that  a  disaster  did  not  befall  the  Union  fleet. 

As  the  fleet  passed  up  the  river  the  Louisiana  occupied  a  promi 
nent  position  tied  to  the  river-bank,  where  the  light  from  the  fire- 
rafts  showed  her  as  plainly  as  if  it  had  been  daylight. 

Every  vessel  in  passing  poured  in  her  shot  at  close  quarters, 
doing  the  Louisiana  no  more  harm  than  so  many  popguns.  It  is 
fair  to  presume  that  with  her  powerful  battery  she  inflicted  some  of 
the  damage  done  to  the  squadron.  It  can  be  easily  imagined  what 


56      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

terrible  havoc  such  a  vessel  would  have  made  among  a  lot  of 
wooden  vessels  had  her  motive  power  been  in  good  order.  The 
ships  scattered  about  the  river  could  have  offered  no  effectual  re 
sistance  to  her  without  firing  into  each  other. 

How  fortunate,  then,  it  was  that  Flag-Officer  Farragut  advanced 
up  the  river  the  night  he  did,  when  the  ironclad  was  tied  up  to  the 
bank  and  could  not  use  her  guns  effectively  ! 

Only  one  projectile  did  any  harm  to  the  Louisiana.  It  was  either 
an  eleven-inch  or  a  mortar  shell  that  knocked  off  part  of  a  light 
gallery  in  which  riflemen  were  stationed.  Her  commanding  officer 
was  mortally  wounded,  and  a  few  of  her  men  were  disabled. 

How  is  it,  I  would  ask,  that  such  a  vessel  could  be  built  in  New 
Orleans  with  the  comparatively  meager  resources  of  the  Confeder 
ates  ?  The  Merrimac  built  at  Norfolk,  two  heavier  ships  than  either 
the  Merrimac  or  Louisiana  building  at  New  Orleans,  four  heavy 
ironclads  building  up  the  Yazoo  Eiver,  and  the  Tennessee  building 
at  Mobile,  while  the  most  in  this  direction  that  the  North  had 
accomplished  was  the  construction  of  the  little  Monitor,  designed 
by  Ericsson,  which  was  derided  while  building,  was  looked  upon 
as  a  doubtful  experiment,  and  finally  saved  the  honor  of  the 
nation. 

Where  was  our  boasted  energy  when  we  could  not  build  two  or 
three  ironclads  while  the  Confederates  were  building  eight  ? 

"With  our  resources  we  should,  in  the  time  from  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Rebellion  to  the  expedition  against  New  Orleans,  have  been 
able  to  supply  Farragut  with  half  a  dozen  heavy  ironclads.  It  was 
fortunate  indeed  for  Farragut  that  the  Louisiana  was  not  in  good 
working  order,  for,  although  there  was  no  end  of  skill  and  bravery 
shown  by  our  gallant  commander,  his  wooden  ships  were  but  fragile 
things  to  operate  against  heavy  forts  on  the  banks  of  a  swift-run 
ning  river,  and  against  an  impregnable  ironclad,  besides  a  dozen 
gun-boats  throwing  in  shells,  a  formidable  ram  that  was  plunging 
about  in  every  direction  and  rending  the  sides  of  the  heaviest  ves 
sels,  and  packs  of  fire-rafts  scorching  the  very  sides  of  the  ships  and 
causing,  almost  inextricable  difficulties. 

It  was  a  time  to  try  men's  souls,  and  the  fact  that  almost  every 
ship  got  by  the  forts  is  a  proof  that  the  commanding  officers  knew 
their  business,  and  performed  their  duty  with  the  utmost  coolness. 

Farragut  was  justly  lauded  for  this  remarkable  and  glorious 
victory,  but  neither  the  Government  nor  the  people  ever  gave  him 
half  the  credit  he  deserved.  An  English  officer  who  had  achieved 


JOHN  ERICSSON.  57 

so  much  would  have  been  loaded  by  his  government  with  no  end 
of  rewards. 

The  capture  of  New  Orleans  broke  up  the  principal  stronghold 
of  the  Confederacy.  It  virtually  gave  us  control  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  was  really  the  insertion  of  the  wedge  which  finally  split 
the  backbone  of  the  Eebellion.  When  the  Mississippi  was  opened  in 
all  its  length,  the  contest  was  virtually  settled. 

I  know  all  the  difficulties  with  which  Farragut  had  to  contend 
— difficulties  greater  than  ever  beset  British  admirals  in  their  most 
famous  battles  ;  difficulties,  in  fact,  that  many  of  them  would  have 
thought  insurmountable.  The  rank  of  rear-admiral,  and  finally 
that  of  admiral,  when  he  was  broken  in  health,  was  all  the  reward 
he  ever  received,  and  his  rank  of  admiral  carried  with  it  no  authori 
ty  or  consequence  to  make  him  feel  he  was  of  that  importance  to 
his  Government  which  his  services  merited. 

It  is  only  in  the  present  year  (1884)  that  the  survivors  of  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans  received  the  final  share  of  prize-money  gained 
by  them  in  1862. 

The  great  merit  in  giving  rewards  is  to  give  them  promptly ;  it 
can  not  be  considered  generous  when  they  are  doled  out  too  care 
fully. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ERICSSON  AND   THE   MONITOR. — AN  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  GREAT 

ENGINEER. 

GREAT  ideas  lie  dormant  in  the  minds  of  men  until  some  im 
portant  event  occurs  to  bring  them  to  light,  as  the  sun  causes  the 
seed  to  germinate. 

Newton,  although  he  had  certain  theories  in  his  mind  in  rela 
tion  to  the  forces  which  govern  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
never  fully  comprehended  the  matter  until  he  saw  an  apple  fall  from 
a  tree.  By  so  trifling  an  occurrence  as  that  the  philosopher  at  once 
comprehended  the  principle  of  gravitation. 

So  it  was  with  John  Ericsson,  the  distinguished  inventor,  who, 
although  he  had  stowed  away"m  his  mind  certain  theories  which 
were  to  radically  change  the  system  of  naval  warfare,  never  had  an 
opportunity  to  put  them  into  practice  until  a  revolution  took  place 


58      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

in  the  country  of  his  adoption,  and  he  saw  a  chance  of  making  the 
great  talents  God  had  given  him  useful  to  the  Union  cause. 

Had  Ericsson  been  listened  to  on  the  first  breaking  out  of  the 
war,  and  his  plans  adopted,  the  United  States  Government  would 
in  one  year  not  only  have  been  able  to  take  possession  of  all  the 
Southern  ports,  but  to  have  bid  defiance  even  to  the  great  fleets  of 
England  and  France  in  case  either  nation  felt  disposed  to  meddle 
in  our  affairs. 

But  who  was  going  to  believe  that  "an  iron  pot"  would  float, 
even  if  empty,  much  less  when  loaded  down  with  guns,  ammuni 
tion,  machinery,  provisions,  and  men  ?  Mr.  John  Lenthall,  the 
oldest  and  ablest  constructor  in  the  navy,  scouted  the  idea.  "How 
is  the  Monitor  to  ride  the  sea  with  all  that  weight  in  her  ?  "  he  in 
quired. 

"The  sea  shall  ride  over  her,"  replied  Ericsson,  "and  she  will 
live  in  it  like  a  duck." 

"  The  man  is  crazy ! "  said  Lenthall,  and  he  turned  his  atten 
tion  to  the  model  of  a  wooden  double-ender  he  was  about  to  con 
struct — one  of  those  remarkable  vessels  of  which  President  Lincoln 
said,  "  I  have  often  heard  of  a  vessel  with  two  bows,  but  I  never 
before  saw  one  with  two  sterns." 

Mr.  Lenthall  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  but  he  had  been  too 
many  years  engaged  in  modeling  sloops  of  war  and  frigates,  and  was 
of  too  cautious  and  conservative  a  temper  to  be  diverted  from  his 
course  by  what  he  considered  visionary  ideas.  He  had  hardly  pa 
tience  to  examine  the  plans  or  calculations  on  which  depended  the 
efficiency  of  "  Ericsson's  iron  pot,"  as  he  called  it. 

Had  he  taken  hold  of  the  subject  with  enthusiasm,  his  mind 
would  have  grasped  the  situation,  and  the  Monitor  would  have  been 
at  Hampton  Roads  months  before  she  actually  arrived  there,  and  a 
great  catastrophe  would  have  been  averted. 

As  it  was,  only  one  person  in  the  Navy  Department  believed  in 
Ericsson's  plans  from  the  first,  and  that  was  Commodore  Joseph 
Smith,  a  plain,  practical  man,  who  thought  he  saw  in  the  invention 
what  was  worthy  of  encouragement. 

At  length  it  was  agreed  that  Ericsson  should  build,  at  his  own 
expense  and  at  a  private  ship-yard,  an  iron-turreted  vessel,  which 
the  Government  would  accept,  provided  it  fulfilled  in  all  respects 
the  promise  of  the  inventor. 

Had  the  extensive  iron-works  and  machinery  at  the  New  York 
navy-yard  been  put  in  operation,  the  Government  could  have  built 


A  VISIT   TO  ERICSSON.  59 

in  the  same  time  half  a  dozen  vessels  of  the  Monitor  pattern,  and 
of  much  greater  power,  which  would  have  assured  us  success  all 
along  the  coast  and  made  us  infinitely  stronger  abroad. 

As  soon  as  the  success  of  Ericsson's  Monitor  was  assured,  the 
Government  proceeded  to  follow  out  the  idea,  and  the  Monadnock 
class  were  then  constructed  on  the  plans  of  Chief  Constructor  Len- 
thall,  who,  with  the  means  at  his  disposal,  was  able  to  turn  out  what 
were  then  the  most  powerful  vessels  in  the  world. 

While  I  was  fitting  out  the  mortar  flotilla,  "  Ericsson's  iron  pot " 
was  approaching  completion,  and  I  received  orders  from  the  Navy 
Department  to  make  a  critical  examination  of  the  vessel  and  report 
my  opinion  of  her  capabilities.  After  this  duty  was  accomplished 
I  was  ordered  to  proceed  to  Mystic,  Conn.,  and  examine  the  Ga 
lena,  a  wooden  vessel  sheathed  with  iron  plates,  building  there  under 
the  supervision  of  Commodore  Joseph  Smith. 

Arriving  at  New  York,  I  called  on  Mr.  Ericsson  and  showed  him 
my  orders.  He  read  them,  looked  at  me  attentively,  and  said  : 
"Well,  you  are  no  doubt  a  great  mathematician,  and  know  all 
about  the  calculations  which  enter  into  the  construction  of  my  ves 
sel.  You  will  have  many  papers  to  examine ;  help  yourself,  and 
take  what  you  like  best." 

"  I  am  no  great  mathematician,"  I  replied,  "but  I  am  a  practical 
man,  and  think  I  can  ascertain  whether  or  not  the  Monitor  will  do 
what  is  promised  for  her." 

"Ah,  yes  !  "  exclaimed  Ericsson,  "a  practical  man  !  Well,  I've 
had  a  dozen  of  those  fellows  here  already,  and  they  went  away  as 
wise  as  they  came.  I  don't  want  practical  men  sent  here,  sir.  I 
want  men  who  understand  the  higher  mathematics  that  are  used 
in  the  construction  of  my  vessel — men  who  can  work  out  the  dis 
placements,  horse-power,  impregnability,  endurance  at  sea  in  a  gale, 
capacity  to  stow  men,  the  motion  of  the  vessel  according  to  the 
waves,  her  stability  as  a  platform  for  guns,  her  speed,  actual  weight 
— in  short,  everything  pertaining  to  the  subject.  Now,  young  man, 
if  you  can't  fathom  these  things  you  had  better  go  back  where  you 
came  from.  If  the  department  wants  to  understand  the  principles 
of  my  vessel,  they  should  send  a  mathematician." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  as  the  inventor  paused  to  take  breath,  "  although 
I  am  not  strictly  what  you  would  call  a  mathematician,  I  know  the 
rule  of  three,  and  that  twice  two  are  four." 

Ericsson  looked  hard  at  me,  his  hair  bristled  up,  and  the  mus 
cles  of  his  brawny  arms  seemed  to  swell  as  if  in  expectation  of 


60      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

having  to  eject  me  from  the  room.  "Well!"  he  exclaimed,  "I 
never  in  all  my  life  met  with  such  assurance  as  this.  Here  the 
Government  sends  me  an  officer  who  knows  only  the  rule  of  three 
and  that  twice  two  are  four,  and  I  have  used  the  calculus  and  all 
the  higher  mathematics  in  making  my  calculations.  My  God  !  do 
they  take  me  for  a  fool  ?  " 

"But,"  said  I,  apologetically,  "I  know  a  little  of  simple  equa 
tions.  Won't  that  be  sufficient  to  make  me  understand  this  ma 
chine  of  yours  ?  " 

"  Worse  and  worse  ! "  exclaimed  the  inventor.  ' '  This  beats  the 
devil ;  it  would  be  better  if  you  knew  nothing.  Father  in  heaven, 
here's  a  man  who  tells  me  he  knows  a  little  of  simple  equations,  and 
they  send  him  to  examine  John  Ericsson  !  " 

I  was  greatly  amused  with  this  remarkable  man,  and  entirely 
forgave  his  peculiarities.  "Well,  Mr.  Ericsson,"  I  said,  "you  will 
have  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  bargain,  and  get  along  with  me 
as  well  as  you  possibly  can.  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  receive  in 
struction  from  you." 

"  Ah,  ha  ! "  he  exclaimed,  "  that's  it,  is  it  ?  and  so  you  think  me 
a  school-master  to  teach  naval  officers  what  I  know  ?  I'm  afraid 
you're  too  bad  a  bargain  for  me ;  you  must  expect  no  instruction 
here.  Take  what  you  like  best  from  my  shelves,  but  you  can't  have 
my  brains." 

"  Well,  then,"  I  said,  "  show  me  your  plans  in  order,  and,  if 
you  won't  explain  them,  let  me  see  what  I  can  make  of  them." 

"Ah,  young  man  !"  said  Ericsson,  "with  your  limited  knowl 
edge  of  simple  equations  you  will  run  aground  in  a  very  short  time. 
Look  at  this  drawing  and  tell  me  what  it  represents." 

"It  looks  to  me  like  a  coffee-mill,"  I  answered. 

Ericsson  jumped  from  his  chair  with  astonishment  in  his  eye. 
"  On  my  word  of  honor,  young  man,  you  are  vexing,  and  I  am  a  fool 
to  waste  my  time  on  you.  That  is  the  machinery  that  works  my 
turn-table  for  the  turret.  I  have  spent  many  sleepless  nights  over 
it,  and  now  a  man  who  only  knows  a  little  of  simple  equations  tells 
me  it's  a  coffee-mill !  Now  what  do  you  think  of  that  ?"  continued 
Mr.  Ericsson,  handing  me  a  small  wooden  model;  "that's  my  'iron 
pot,'  as  you  navy  people  call  it." 

I  regarded  the  model  with  a  critical  eye,  holding  it  upside  down. 
"  This,"  I  remarked,  "  is  evidently  the  casemate  " — passing  my  hand 
over  the  bottom — "and  this  " — pointing  to  the  turret — "  is  undoubt 
edly  where  you  carry  the  engine." 


EXAMINING  THE   MONITOR.  61 

"0  Heavens!"  exclaimed  Ericsson;  "well!  well!  never  did 
I  see  such  a —  But  never  mind  ;  you  will  learn  by  and  by  the  world 
was  not  made  in  a  day." 

So  we  went  on  till  at  length  I  informed  Mr.  Ericsson  that  I 
thought  I  understood  all  about  his  "iron  pot." 

He  was  not  in  a  pleasant  humor,  evidently  regarding  me  as  an 
emissary  sent  by  the  department  to  try  and  bring  him  to  grief.  As 
he  did  not  seem  to  be  in  a  communicative  frame  of  mind,  I  took  a 
malicious  pleasure  in  worrying  him. 

After  learning  all  I  could  possibly  from  the  drawings  and  plans 
of  the  Monitor,  I  proposed  to  the  inventor  to  go  and  examine  the 
Simon-pure  article,  and  we  crossed  the  ferry  to  Greenpoint,  where, 
if  I  remember  rightly,  the  vessel  was  building. 

Taking  off  my  coat,  I  penetrated  to  the  innermost  recesses  of  the 
Monitor,  followed  by  Mr.  Ericsson,  who  more  than  once  inquired 
if  my  simple  equations  enabled  me  to  comprehend  the  mysteries. 

"  Wait  till  I  am  done  with  you,"  I  said  ;  "then  the  laugh  will 
be  on  you,  and  you'll  see  what  my  simple  equations  amount  to." 

"No  doubt !  no  doubt !"  he  replied,  "but  it  will  take  a  big 
book  to  hold  all  you  don't  know  when  you  get  through." 

At  last,  after  an  hour  spent  in  examining  the  Vessel,  I  emerged 
from  the  hold,  followed  by  the  inventor,  who  looked  displeased 
enough.  "Now,  sir,"  I  said,  "I  know  all  about  your  machine." 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  sneeringly,  "  and  you  know  twice  two  are 
four,  and  a  little  of  simple  equations." 

"Now,  Mr.  Ericsson,"  I  said,  "I  have  borne  a  good  deal  from 
you  to-day ;  you  have  mocked  at  my  authority  and  have  failed  to 
treat  me  with  the  sweetness  I  had  a  right  to  expect.  I  am  about  to 
have  satisfaction,  for  on  my  report  depends  whether  or  not  your 
vessel  is  accepted  by  the  department,  so  I  will  tell  you  in  plain 
terms  what  I  think  of  your  '  iron  pot.' " 

"  Say  what  you  please,"  exclaimed  Ericsson,  glaring  at  me  like 
a  tiger  ready  to  spring ;  "  nobody  will  mind  what  you  say  ! " 

"Well,  sir,"  I  continued,  "I  have  looked  into  the  whole  thing 
from  A  to  Izzard,  and  " — gazing  steadily  at  the  inventor,  not  with 
out  apprehensions  that  he  might  seize  me  in  his  muscular  arms  and 
squeeze  the  breath  out  of  my  body — "I  will  say  this  to  the  Govern 
ment — in  writing,  too,  so  that  there  can  be  no  mistake." 

"Go  on,  sir,  go  on  !"  said  Ericsson  ;  "you  will  run  on  a  rock 
directly." 

"Well,  then,"  I  continued,  "I  will  say  that  Mr.  Ericsson  has 


62      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

constructed  a  vessel — a  very  little  iron  vessel — which,  in  the  opinion 
of  our  best  naval  architect,  is  in  violation  of  well-known  principles, 
and  will  sink  the  moment  she  touches  the  water." 

"  Oh,"  said  Ericsson,  "  he's  a  fool ! " 

"But,"  I  continued,  "I  shall  say,  also,  that  Mr.  Ericsson  has 
constructed  the  most  remarkable  vessel  the  world  has  ever  seen — one 
that,  if  properly  handled,  can  destroy  any  ship  now  afloat,  and  whip 
a  dozen  wooden  ships  together  if  they  were  where  they  could  not 
manoeuvre  so  as  to  run  her  down." 

Ericsson  regarded  me  in  astonishment,  then  seized  my  hand 
and  almost  shook  my  arm  off.  "My  God  !"  he  exclaimed,  "and 
all  this  time  I  took  you  for  a  d — d  fool,  and  you  are  not  a  d — d  fool 
after  all!" 

I  laughed  heartily,  as  did  Ericsson,  and  we  have  been  the  best  of 
friends  ever  since. 

I  telegraphed  at  once  to  the  Navy  Department,  "Mr.  Erics 
son's  vessel  is  the  best  fighting  machine  ever  invented,  and  can 
destroy  any  ship  of  war  afloat." 

After  examining  the  Galena,  I  telegraphed,  "I  am  not  satisfied 
with  the  vessel ;  she  is  too  vulnerable." 

On  my  return  to  Washington  I  met  a  high  official  of  the  navy, 
who  said  to  me  :  "  We  received  your  highfalutin  telegram  about 
the  Ericsson  vessel.  Why,  man,  Lenthall  says  she  will  sink  as  soon 
as  she  is  launched.  He  has  made  a  calculation,  and  finds  she  will 
not  bear  her  iron,  much  less  her  guns  and  stores." 

Both  Fox  and  Lenthall  soon  had  reason  to  change  their  opinions 
on  this  subject ;  both  became  strong  advocates  of  Ericsson's  system, 
and  in  a  short  time  a  number  of  much  larger  vessels  of  a  similar 
type  with  the  Monitor  were  commenced,  but  were  not  finished  in 
time  to  be  of  use  in  the  most  critical  period  of  the  civil  war,  when 
we  came  near  meeting  with  serious  reverses  owing  to  the  great 
energy  displayed  by  the  Confederates  in  improvising  heavy  iron 
clads. 

To  Ericsson  belongs  the  credit  of  devising  the  Monitor  class  of 
vessels,  which  gave  us  a  cheap  and  rapid  mode  of  building  a  navy 
suitable  to  our  wants  at  the  time.  Through  his  genius  we  were 
enabled  to  bid  defiance  to  the  maritime  powers  which  seemed  dis 
posed  to  meddle  with  our  affairs,  and  it  was  owing  to  him  that  at 
the  end  of  the  civil  war  we  were  in  a  condition  to  prevent  any  hos 
tile  navy  from  entering  our  ports. 

Ericsson  may  be  said  to  have  at  one  blow  destroyed  all  the 


NEW  ORLEANS.  63 

squadrons  of  Europe,  for  after  the  engagement  between  the  Moni 
tor  and  the  Merrimac  it  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that  the  old- 
fashioned  wooden  vessels  were  useless  for  war  purposes,  although 
we  have  held  on  to  our  old  rattle-traps  until  we  are  a  by-word 
among  the  nations — a  laughing-stock  even  to  the  Chinese  ! 

At  the  age  of  eighty-four,  Ericsson  is  now  a  hale,  hearty  man, 
with  a  mind  as  bright  as  it  was  thirty  years  ago. 

The  United  States  owe  him  a  debt  they  never  have  repaid  and 
never  can  repay. 

His  latest  invention  is  a  torpedo  which  in  case  of  war  will  bring 
the  name  of  Ericsson  again  before  our  people  and  remind  them  of 
the  man  who,  in  the  days  of  our  greatest  trial,  placed  us  in  a  posi 
tion  to  bid  defiance  to  foreign  and  domestic  enemies. 

Few  nations  have  had  so  great  an  inventive  genius  as  Ericsson 
to  assist  them  with  his  talents  in  time  of  war,  and  he  has  also  in 
time  of  peace  produced  valuable  inventions  which  have  added  to 
his  reputation  and  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country. 

By  breaking  up  the  great  wooden  navies  of  Europe,  Ericsson 
helped  to  place  us  more  on  an  equality  with  them  as  a  naval  power, 
and  the  distance  is  not  so, great  between  us  but  that  we  may  hope 
to  overtake  them  when  the  people  of  this  country  demand  a  navy 
commensurate  with  our  national  importance,  and  when  the  exigen 
cies  of  politics  can  no  longer  prevent  proper  measures  being  taken 
for  the  defense  of  the  nation,  which  should  at  all  times  be  in  a  po 
sition  to  protect  its  citizens  at  home  and  abroad. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PLANS  FOE  THE  CAPTURE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. — CONDUCT  OF  THE 
PEOPLE  ON  OUR  TAKING  POSSESSION  OF  THE  CITY. — GENERAL 
BUTLER'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

WHILE  I  was  at  the  entrance  to  the  southwest  pass  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  I  had  ample  opportunity  to  find  out  much  that  was  going 
on  at  the  forts  and  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 

Upon  reaching  home  in  the  Powhatan,  I  proceeded  to  Washing 
ton,  and  found  everything  at  the  Navy  Department  as  calm  and 
quiet  as  if  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  blockade  the  Southern  ports. 


64      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

I  could  not  obtain  an  interview  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  soon  found  that  I  was  out  of  favor  since  I  ran  off  with  the 
Powhatan  to  carry  out  Mr.  Seward's  pet  scheme  of  saving  Fort 
Pickens.  Assistant  Secretary  Fox  was  not  communicative  ;  Faxon 
eyed  me  askance ;  Wise  was  jocose,  but  knew  nothing ;  old  Commo 
dore  Joe  Smith  said,  "  Well,  you  didn't  run  away  after  all !"  etc.  ; 
and  I  wandered  about  like  a  cat  in  a  strange  garret. 

Presently  I  encountered  Senators  Hale  and  Grimes,  standing 
near  the  door  of  the  Secretary's  room.  They  greeted  me  warmly, 
made  inquiries  about  my  cruise,  and  when  I  told  them  that  I  had 
come  to  lay  a  proposition  for  the  capture  of  New  Orleans  before 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  they  became  very  much  interested  in  the 
project. 

I  explained  to  them  the  ease  with  which  the  city  could  be  cap 
tured,  and  the  advantages  that  would  accrue  from  it.  The  sena 
tors  saw  the  importance  of  the  matter,  and  invited  me  to  accompany 
them  to  see  Mr.  Welles. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  much  to  my  surprise,  received  me 
kindly,  and  listened  attentively  to  all  I  had  to  say.  When  I  had 
concluded  he  suggested  we  should  all  go  J;o  the  President. 

We  found  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  White  House  pacing  the  floor, 
calm  and  thoughtful,  and  to  him  I  repeated  what  I  had  told  the 
others,  and  urged  the  great  importance  of  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans.  When  I  had  finished,  the  President  said,  "  This  reminds 
me  of  a  story  which  I  must  tell  you  all. 

"There  was  an  old  woman  in  Illinois  who  "missed  some  of  her 
chickens,  and  couldn't  imagine  what  had  become  of  them.  Some 
one  suggested  that  they  had  been  carried  off  by  a  skunk  ;  so  she  told 
her  husband  he  must  sit  up  that  night  and  shoot  the  '  critter.' 

"  The  old  man  sat  up  all  night,  and  next  morning  came  in  with 
two  pet  rabbits.  '  Thar,'  said  he,  '  your  chickens  are  all  safe  ;  thar's 
two  of  them  skunks  I  killed  ! ' 

"  '  Them  ain't  skunks,'  said  the  old  woman ;  '  them's  my  pet  rab 
bits  ;  you  allers  was  a  fool ! ' 

"  'Well,  then,'  returned  the  old  man,  'if  them  ain't  skunks  I 
don't  know  a  skunk  when  I  sees  it.' 

"Now,  Mr.  Secretary,"  said  the  President,  "the  navy  has  been 
hunting  pet  rabbits  long  enough ;  suppose  you  send  them  after 
skunks.  It  seems  to  me  that  what  the  lieutenant  proposes  is  feasi 
ble.  He  says  a  dozen  ships  will  take  the  forts  and  city,  and  there 
should  be  twenty  thousand  soldiers  sent  along  to  hold  it.  After 


PLANS   FOR   CAPTURING  NEW   ORLEANS.  65 

New  Orleans  is  taken,  and  while  we  are  about  it,  we  can  push  on 
to  Vicksburg  and  open  the  river  all  the  way  along.  We  will  go 
and  see  General  McClellan  and  find  out  if  he  can't  manage  to  get 
the  troops."  Just  then  Mr.  Seward  came  in,  and  we  all  repaired 
to  McClellan's  headquarters. 

McClellan  came  down  as  soon  as  the  President  was  announced, 
and  recognized  me  as  an  old  acquaintance.  "  Why,"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "  do  you  two  fellows  know  each  other  ?  So  much  the  bet 
ter."  And  he  laid  the  matter  before  the  general  in  a  lucid  manner, 
for  Mr.  Lincoln  was  quick  of  comprehension,  and  said,  "  You  must 
find  the  troops  and  a  general  of  good  administrative  abilities  to 
hold  the  city  of  New  Orleans  after  the  navy  shall  have  captured  it. 
Now,"  continued  the  President,  "  time  flies,  and  I  want  this  mat 
ter  settled.  I  will  leave  you  two  gentlemen  to  arrange  the  plans, 
and  will  come  over  here  at  eight  o'clock  this  evening  to  see  what 
conclusion  you  have  arrived  at." 

So  General  McClellan  and  myself  were  left  alone  to  talk  the 
matter  over,  and  we  soon  determined  upon  a  plan  of  operations. 
At  eight  o'clock  that  evening  the  President  returned  to  General 
McClellan's  headquarters,  and  was  informed  that  the  general  could 
spare  twenty  thousand  men  to  accompany  a  naval  expedition  to 
New  Orleans,  and  that  they  would  be  ready  to  embark  as  soon  as 
the  naval  vessels  could  be  prepared. 

The  President  then  directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  have 
the  necessary  number  of  ships  ready.  This  duty  was  assigned  to 
Assistant  (Secretary  Fox,  who  took  hold  of  the  matter  with  his 
usual  energy,  and  soon  assembled  a  squadron  adequate  to  the 
occasion. 

Mr.  Welles,  in  an  article  which  he  published  in  a  magazine 
called  the  "  Galaxy,"  many  years  after  the  expedition  to  New  Or 
leans,  states  the  matter  in  quite  a  different  light.  Of  all  the  act 
ors  in  the  scene  I  have  described,  only  General  McClellan  and  my 
self  survive,  and  he  can  corroborate  my  statement. 

In  reference  to  Mr.  Welles's  narrative  in  the  "  Galaxy,"  it  would 
be  charitable  to  suppose  that  age  had  impaired  his  memory,  al 
though  his  mind  was  vigorous  to  the  last. 

I  know  his  friends  were  disappointed  when  the  above-mentioned 
article  appeared.  The  ex-Secretary  evidently  wrote  under  a  wrong 
impression,  and  was  disingenuous,  to  use  the  mildest  expression. 

However,  I  never  noticed  the  article,  thinking  myself  strong 
enough  to  defy  such  attacks,  nor  would  I  let  my  friends  publish 

5 


66      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  papers  in  my  possession  that  would  have  refuted  Mr.  Welles's 
statements. 

Besides,  Mr.  Welles  had,  on  the  whole,  been  kind  to  me,  and  stead 
ily  insisted  on  my  promotion  to  the  rank  of  rear-admiral  and  vice- 
admiral,  and  I  felt  reluctant  to  call  in  question  the  word  of  a  man 
who  had  served  his  country  in  its  darkest  hour  with  fidelity  and 
zeal,  if  not  with  conspicuous  ability. 

There  were  too  many  officers  living  at  the  time  who  knew  what 
I  had  done,  and  I  really  regretted,  for  Mr.  Welles's  sake,  that  the 
odium  of  the  article  fell  upon  him. 

After  settling  upon  the  ships  and  troops,  the  next  thing  to  be 
done  was  to  select  an  officer  to  command  the  naval  forces. 

Mr.  Fox  named  several,  but  I  opposed  them  all,  and  finally 
urged  the  appointment  of  Captain  D.  G.  Farragut  so  strongly  that 
I  was  sent  to  New  York  to  communicate  with  him  on  the  subject. 
The  result  was  the  acceptance  by  Farragut  of  the  command — a 
command  assuring  l}is  reputation,  which  no  man  ever  more  de 
served. 

This  is  the  way  the  expedition  to  New  Orleans  originated.  It 
is  a  piece  of  hitherto  unwritten  history.  The  limits  of  this  work 
forbid  my  giving  further  details. 

When  Farragut  reached  New  Orleans  with  his  fleet,  of  course 
he  created  great  consternation.  The  people  fairly  went  wild  ;  they 
set  fire  to  the  cotton  along  the  levees,  and  seemed  determined  that 
nothing  valuable  should  fall  into  our  hands.  They  did  not  appar 
ently  remember  that,  so  far,  our  navy  had  respected  private  rights 
and  protected  those  made  homeless  by  the  actions  of  wild  mobs. 

Among  the  property  destroyed  were  two  powerful  steamers  in 
tended  for  ironclads.  Had  these  been  finished,  they  would  have 
been  strong  enough  to  drive  our  Union  ships  from  the  coast.  By 
the  time  we  could  have  built  the  proper  kind  of  vessels  to  compete 
with  the  monsters  the  Confederates  were  constructing,  the  Missis 
sippi  River  would  have  been  so  strongly  fortified  that  it  would  have 
taken  years  to  break  the  backbone  of  the  Rebellion. 

Instead  of  wasting  our  resources  in  attacking  Hatteras  Inlet, 
Port  Royal,  and  other  places  of  less  importance,  we  should  have 
assailed  New  Orleans  in  the  first  instance  with  just  such  a  force 
as  was  finally  sent  there.  It  would  then  have  fallen  into  our  hands 
without  much  resistance  ;  but  the  place  for  a  long  time  was  treated 
by  the  Government  as  if  unworthy  of  notice. 

New  Orleans  was  the  great  Southern  emporium,  and  was  filled 


IMPORTANCE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.         67 

with  all  kinds  of  naval  and  military  stores,  supplied  by  the  rich 
country  which  borders  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  and 
having  easy  communication  with  Texas,  which  could  supply  an  im 
mense  army  with  food  for  an  indefinite  period. 

The  ports  of  Texas  were  so  inadequately  guarded  that,  two  years 
after  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  blockade-runners  went  in 
and  out  almost  with  impunity,  taking  away  a  large  amount  of  cot 
ton,  which  supplied  the  Confederates  with  funds  in  Europe  with 
which  to  buy  everything  they  needed. 

These  articles  were  sent  into  Wilmington,  Charleston,  and 
Savannah,  and  thence  were  distributed  as  occasion  required. 

I  was  in  command  of  the  first  vessel  that  undertook  the  block 
ade  of  the  Mississippi,  having  been  sent  there  at  my  own  request 
by  Captain  McKean,  commanding  the  Niagara.  I  realized  from 
the  first  the  great  importance  of  New  Orleans  to  the  Confederates. 
Perhaps  because  the  entrance  to  the  Mississippi  was  easily  block 
aded  it  made  the  Government  indifferent,  or  perhaps,  to  use  an  old 
quotation, 

"  There  were  men  in  high  places, 
With  smooth,  placid  faces, 
With  hands  meekly  folded  as  if  saying  grace, 
While  rebellion  was  moving  at  an  awful  fast  pace." 

We  either  sent  ships  there  too  large  to  cross  the  bar,  or  else  sailing- 
vessels  that  were  not  a  particle  of  use.  Those  who  were  on  the 
blockade  in  that  quarter  a  short  time  after  I  left  can  not  have  for 
gotten  the  miserable  fiasco  made  by  a  detachment  of  two  or  three 
vessels  that  attempted  to  ascend  the  river  as  far  as  the  head  of  the 
passes,  and  were  obliged  to  make  a  shameful  retreat,  being  chased 
down  the  river  and  over  the  bar  by  the  Confederate  ram  Manassas. 

This  event  became  more  notorious  from  the  fact  that  the  sail 
ing-vessel  grounded  on  the  bar  near  deep  water,  and  a  river  steamer 
called  the  Ivy,  armed  with  a  three-inch  rifle  gun,  kept  the  shots 
whistling  in  so  lively  a  manner  around  the  heads  of  our  people  that 
the  commanding  officer  became  panic-stricken,  wrapped  himself  in 
the  American  flag,  fired  a  fuse  leading  to  the  magazine,  and  de 
serted  his  ship  with  his  officers  and  men. 

They  all  repaired  on  board  the  senior  officer's  ship,  much  to  the 
horror  of  the  latter  when  he  heard  that  the  sloop  of  war  would 
blow  up  in  a  few  minutes  ;  but  an  hour  elapsed,  and  no  explosion 
took  place.  The  reason  of  this  was  subsequently  explained  by  an 


68     INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

old  quartermaster,  who  informed  the  senior  officer  that  just  before 
leaying  the  ship  he  had  cut  off  the  burning  end  of  the  fuse,  think 
ing  the  captain  might  change  his  mind  when  he  no  longer  heard 
the  whistling  of  the  enemy's  shells — a  fine  commentary  on  the  be 
havior  of  his  commanding  officer. 

But  to  return  to  Flag  Officer  Farragut,  whom  I  left  at  anchor 
before  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  with  a  vile  mob  shouting  defiance 
at  him  through  the  streets,  and  a  foolish  Mayor  aiding  and  abet 
ting  their  madness,  when  one  broadside  from  the  Hartford  would 
have  scattered  the  rabble  like  a  flock  of  sheep  and  set  fire  to  the  place. 

If  ever  Farragut  deserved  credit,  it  was  for  the  forbearance  and 
humanity  he  showed  to  the  crowd  of  maniacs  who  defied  his  author 
ity  and  did  everything  in  its  power  to  prevent  him  from  taking 
peaceful  possession  of  the  city. 

A  conqueror  is  never  so  great  as  when  governing  himself  and 
controlling  the  passions  of  those  around  him,  in  the  moment  of  vic 
tory,  who  witness  their  beaten  foes  still  defying  those  who  have  it 
in  their  power  to  destroy  them. 

This  was  exactly  the  state  of  affairs  in  "New  Orleans  when  Farra 
gut  arrived  before  the  city. 

"We  had  been  led  to  believe  that  many  Union  people  there  were 
actually  pining  for  the  sight  of  the  old  flag,  and  that  our  forces 
would  receive  the  warmest  welcome.  On  the  contrary,  Farragut 
was  met  with  yells  of  defiance  all  along  the  levee  from  thousands  of 
people  mad  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

They  acted  as  if  they  had  just  escaped  from  a  lunatic  asylum. 
They  ranted,  raved,  and  used  such,  shocking  bad  language  that  it 
pained  the  ears.  Boatmen,  politicians,  sage  counselors,  women  of 
the  town,  and  fish-mongers  were  all  mixed  up  in  a  seemingly  in 
extricable  mass,  defying  Farragut's  ships  with  their  fists  as  if  they 
would  annihilate  them.  It  would  have  been  amusing  had  not  the 
occasion  been  too  serious,  and  had  not  the  power  of  the  Govern 
ment  required  to  have  been  vindicated. 

"What  a  reckless  mob  it  was,  to  be  sure,  which  one  shot  from  a 
howitzer  would  have  scattered  like  sheep  !  But  the  maniacs,  insti 
gated  by  those  who  ought  to  have  known  better,  trusted  to  the 
chivalry  of  the  navy,  supposing  it  would  not  fire  on  unarmed  peo 
ple,  and  resorted  to  every  kind  of  low  abuse  the  human  tongue 
could  utter.  The  Mayor  and  City  Council  never  reflected  how 
much  better  it  would  have  been  for  them  to  have  surrendered  with 
dignity. 


DEFIANCE   OF  THE  PEOPLE.  69 

Captain  Bailey,  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  George  H.  Perkins, 
was  at  length  sent  on  shore,  with  a  flag  of  truce,  to  wait  on  the 
Mayor  and  demand  the  surrender  of  the  city.  These  two  brave 
officers  landed  without  any  support  and  forced  that  maddened, 
yelling  crowd  to  open  their  ranks  and  let  them  pass.  The  mob 
hooted  and  shook  their  fists  in  the  officers'  faces,  shouting,  "  Choke 
them  ! "  "  Give  them  rotten  eggs  !  "  Some  even  threatened  them 
with  pistols,  but  they  did  them  no  injury,  for  the  crowd  was  awed, 
if  not  quieted,  by  the  determined  looks  of  the  two  officers,  who 
marched  on  to  the  performance  of  their  mission  as  coolly  as  if  on 
parade. 

They  performed  their  duty  and  returned  to  the  ship,  escorted 
by  the  same  demoniac  rabble.  It  was  a  perilous  undertaking,  and 
had  a  hair  of  their  heads  been  injured,  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  squadron  would  have  opened  on  the  city. 

In  the  days  of  the  French  Revolution,  when  the  sans-culottes 
dragged  their  victims  to  the  shambles,  the  mob  were  not  actuated 
by  a  more  devilish  spirit  than  this  pleasant  party  assembled  on 
the  levee  at  New  Orleans.  Men,  women,  and  children  of  all 
classes  stayed,  mixed  up  together,  till  late  that  night,  and  with 
the  most  discordant  shrieks  and  howls  defied  Farragut  and  his 
officers. 

It  was  a  critical  moment.  The  commander-in-chief  had  im 
posed  upon  him  a  solemn  duty  to  enforce  the  obedience  of  a  rebel 
lious  city,  which  lay  helpless  at  his  feet,  yet  was  dominated  by  a 
tumultuous  crowd  instigated  by  their  leaders  to  a  threatening  atti 
tude,  doubtless  with  the  hope  that  Farragut  would  be  provoked  to 
fire  into  the  throng  and  kill  some  of  their  number. 

That  would  have  been  a  great  boon  to  the  inciters  of  the  mob. 
They  would  have  filled  the  civilized  world  with  their  complaints  of 
Union  cruelty  toward  helpless  women  and  children,  and  made  many 
misrepresentations  not  easy  to  confute,  as  noxious  weeds,  when  once 
they  have  taken  root,  are  exceedingly  hard  to  remove. 

Fortunately,  Farragut  was  too  humane  to  gratify  these  desper 
ate  people,  although  they  gave  him  no  credit  for  his  forbearance, 
and  only  increased  their  offensive  demonstrations. 

Some  officer  suggested  a  dose  of  grape-shot.  "  No,"  said  Farra 
gut,  "the  wretches  are  crazy,  and  I  can't  fire  on  howling  maniacs." 

Captain  Bell  proposed  to  the  flag-officer  to  let  him  land  the  ma 
rines  and  plant  the  Union  flag  on  the  Government  buildings.  To 
this  Farragut  consented. 


70      INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

There  was  never  a  more  hazardous  duty  than  that  imposed  on 
Captain  Bell,  and  he  performed  it  to  the  fullest  satisfaction  of  his 
brother  officers.  His  cool  conduct  even  drew  respect  from  the  noisy 
rabble,  who,  although  they  howled  and  hooted  and  used  the  most 
opprobrious  epithets,  yet  gave  way  before  the  steady  advance  of  the 
handful  of  marines,  and  then  closed  in  behind  them. 

For  some  time  no  one  could  learn  the  fate  of  what  was  thought 
to  be  a  forlorn  hope,  but  the  bearing  of  Bell  and  his  men  kept  the 
crowd  in  a  certain  awe. 

They  knew  that  the  well-drilled  men  and  their  sturdy  leader 
meant  business,  and  no  one  had  the  hardihood  to  strike  the  first 
blow,  although  the  crowd  was  so  great  that  they  might  have  closed 
on  this  handful  of  men  and  torn  them  to  pieces. 

At  length  Bell  reached  the  City  Hall  and  demanded  ad 
mittance.  Amid  the  howls  of  the  multitude  he  ascended  to  the 
roof  of  the  building,  leaving  the  marines  to  guard  the  doors,  and 
in  a  few  moments  the  star-spangled  banner  floated  from  the  flag 
pole. 

At  the  same  instant  a  cheer  from  the  crews  of  the  Union  vessels 
rang  along  the  levee  and  up  the  Mississippi,  as  if  to  notify  the  loyal 
North  that  the  navy  had  taken  possession  of  the  Government  prop 
erty  in  New  Orleans. 

The  crowd  in  the  streets  was  astounded,  and  for  a  moment  si 
lenced  at  the  sight  of  our  country's  flag  floating  from  the  staff:  where 
lately  the  rebel  ensign  had  waved.  Perhaps  they  had  still  a  linger 
ing  regard  for  the  flag  under  which  many  of  them  had  served  in 
days  of  yore,  and  to  which  they  had  looked  for  protection.  Their 
silence  was  but  momentary,  for  presently  loud  shouts  went  up  : 
"  Pull  it  down  ! "  "  Trample  it  in  the  mud  ! "  "  Tear  the  vile 
rag  to  pieces  ! " 

"The  first  man  who  lays  a  hand  on  that  flag  in  my  presence," 
said  Bell,  "will  be  shot  down." 

The  crowd  knew  that  he  meant  what  he  said,  and,  although  they 
shrieked  and  yelled  and  threatened,  they  committed  no  overt  act, 
but  satisfied  themselves  with  cursing  the  flag  as  if  it  did  them  a 
world  of  good. 

Any  one  can  be  gallant  in  action,  when  the  excitement  of  battle 
stirs  him  up  to  perform  deeds  of  valor,  but  when  men  offer  their 
lives  by  facing  a  furious  mob,  that  requires  heroism. 

There  were  few  men  better  qualified  for  such  an  emergency  than 
Captain  Bell — a  man  without  bluster,  but  with  a  firm  purpose  to 


GENERAL   BUTLER   IN   COMMAND.  71 

vindicate  the  authority  of  his  Government.  He  led  that  forlorn  hope 
as  he  had  previously  in  a  little  four-gun  steamer  led  his  division  past 
the  batteries  below  New  Orleans. 

General  Butler  and  his  troops  were  in  transports  at  Ship  Island 
until  Farragut  had  passed  the  forts.  After  the  surrender  I  sent  my 
steamers  down  to  the  bar  and  towed  such  of  his  vessels  as  I  could 
get  hold  of  up  to  garrison  the  two  forts.  Then  I  towed  as  many 
as  I  could  to  New  Orleans,  and  the  troops  landed  at  the  levee  about 
a  mile  below  the  city. 

When  the  troops  marched  into  town  they  found  the  mob  as  quiet 
as  possible,  seeming  to  have  no  desire  to  come  into  collision  with 
those  grim  Puritans,  who  were  perfectly  willing  to  bayonet  any  one 
resisting  their  authority. 

Had  Butler's  transports  been  all  steamers  instead  of  being  mostly 
sailing  vessels,  and  had  he  followed  the  navy  closely,  he  might  have 
reached  New  Orleans  in  time  to  receive  part  of  the  honor  due  for  its 
capture.  As  it  was,  General  Butler's  adherents  attempted  to  mo 
nopolize  the  chief  credit  of  the  affair,  and,  in  a  work  issued  under 
authority  of  the  War  Department,  as  a  record  of  the  times,  the 
only  reference  to  the  fall  of  New  Orleans  is  that  it  was  occu 
pied  by  the  troops  under  command  of  General  Butler,  April  30, 
1862  (!). 

After  General  Butler  commenced  to  administer  affairs  at  New 
Orleans,  Farragut  found  himself  altogether  a  secondary  person. 
There  was  a  number  of  shells  in  the  arsenal  which  fitted  the  ship's 
guns,  and  Farragut  sent  an  officer  to  get  some  of  them.  But  the 
officer  was  very  rudely  told  to  go  away  and  not  meddle  with  things 
to  which  he  had  no  right — that  Butler  had  captured  New  Orleans, 
and  that  Farragut  could  exercise  no  authority  there. 

"  Damn  the  fellow's  impudence  ! "  said  the  flag-officer  when 
this  rebuff  was  reported  to  him,  which  was  about  the  severest  ex 
pression  he  ever  made  use  of. 

The  fact  is,  that  not  only  was  New  Orleans  captured  by  the  navy 
without  any  assistance  from  General  Butler  or  his  forces,  but  it  was 
only  through  the  navy  that  the  general  maintained  his  authority  in 
the  city — a  fact  which  he  did  not  seem  to  appreciate. 

Butler  commenced  his  administration  in  a  very  vigorous  man 
ner,  and  there  was  never  a  conquered  city  that  more  needed  a  firm 
hand  to  govern  it. 

General  Shepley,  a  lawyer  of  repute  and  a  gentleman  of  ability, 
was  appointed  by  Butler  military  governor  of  the  city,  and  to  him 


72      INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

belongs  the  greater  share  of  credit  for  the  administration  of  affairs 
at  New  Orleans,  although  his  superior  officer  managed  to  appropri 
ate  it  for  himself. 

General  Butler  was  no  douht  very  energetic  in  inflicting  punish 
ment,  but  I  am  of  opinion  that,  had  he  left  matters  altogether  in 
the  hands  of  General  Shepley,  there  would  haye  been  a  happier  con 
dition  of  affairs,  although  it  is  true  the  people  of  New  Orleans  were 
a  stiff-necked  community,  who  seemed  to  delight  in  aggravating 
their  conquerors. 

Whatever  may  be  said  against  General  Butler's  administration, 
it  at  least  secured  good  order  in  a  city  notorious  for  the  large 
number  of  desperate  characters  it  contained ;  for  the  first  time 
within  the  memory  of  man  the  city  was  everywhere  clean  and 
healthy. 

Any  one  might  walk  the  streets,  by  day  or  night,  with  perfect 
safety.  At  every  corner  was  a  Northern  soldier,  as  stern  and  un 
yielding  as  one  of  Cromwell's  Ironsides. 

There  was  a  secret  police  established,  if  not  equal  to  that  of 
Fouche,  yet  quite  adequate  to  the  occasion. 

Commerce  again  began  to  show  itself  along  the  levees,  and  the 
stevedores,  but  lately  part  and  parcel  of  the  mob  which  ruled  the 
hour,  were  tumbling  cotton  into  vessels  that  had  been  towed  up 
from  the  bar  ;  like  seabirds,  they  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  naval 
vessels  to  pick  up  the  crumbs. 

All  was  apparently  as  pleasant  as  a  summer  evening,  when  the 
moon  was  at  its  full  and  the  sea-breeze  rippling  the  water  with  its 
cool  freshness. 

The  almighty  Union  dollar,  with  its  beautiful  engraved  vignette 
and  its  look  as  if  it  was  the  true  original,  had  almost  immediately 
thrown  into  the  shade  its  humbly  dressed  Confederate  namesake 
worth  about  three  cents — not  enough  to  buy  half  a  pint  of  gumbo- 
soup. 

The  crowd  surged  where  the  Union  dollars  were  most  abundant, 
and  in  a  week,  although  merchant- vessels  were  not  as  plentiful  as 
of  yore,  still  there  was  an  appearance  of  new  life. 

The  people,  however,  were  sulky,  particularly  the  women,  and 
the  ladies  would  not  associate  with  the  Union  officers,  drew  their 
dresses  close  to  them  when  they  passed  a  Northern  soldier,  and 
some  of  the  less  refined  spat  upon  the  ground  to  show  their  con 
tempt  of  their  enemies,  and  even  mocked  when  Union  soldiers 
were  carried  to  their  graves.  However,  these  cases  were  excep- 


GENERAL  BUTLER'S  SYSTEM.  73 

tions,  and  General  Butler  left  nothing  undone  to  put  a  stop  to 
such  conduct. 

His  system  was  doubtless  lacking  in  tact,  and  he  would 
have  saved  himself  a  deal  of  trouble  by  not  seeing  too  much. 
The  most  prominent  disturbers  of  the  peace  were  women,  some 
of  them  supposed  to  be  ladies,  who,  in  their  zeal  for  the  Con 
federate  cause,  violated  the  proprieties  of  life.  But  it  should 
have  been  taken  into  consideration  that  they  were  women,  that 
it  is  the  custom  in  this  country  to  give  them  great  latitude 
and  to  make  for  them  every  allowance,  and  that  the  consider 
ation  for  them  even  extends  to  surrendering  our  seats  in  an 
omnibus ! 

I  would  have  dealt  with  forbearance  in  such  cases,  except  one, 
having  satisfied  myself  of  the  expediency  of  humoring  the  gentler 
sex  when  there  was  no  actual  danger  in  so  doing. 

General  Butler  was  not  popular  at  New  Orleans,  although  the 
city  was  never  so  clean,  healthy,  and  orderly  as  under  his  regime ; 
but  when  Banks  relieved  Butler  the  inhabitants  soon  wished  the 
latter  back  again.  Butler's  rule,  if  severe,  was  consistent,  and 
everybody  knew  what  to  expect,  while  Banks's  administration 
showed  less  ability,  and  his  ways  subjected  him  to  criticism,  which 
was  not  wholly  undeserved. 

Like  the  Caliph  Haroun  al  Raschid,  Butler  loved  to  prowl 
around  at  night  and  see  for  himself  what  was  going  on,  and  en 
deavor  to  entrap  the  governor,  chief  of  police,  or  others  of  his  sub 
ordinates.  He  had  means  of  obtaining  information  that  they  did 
not  possess,  and  it  gave  the  general  great  delight  to  twit  them  with 
news  he  had  obtained  in  advance  of  them. 

Butler  held  court  daily,  and  dealt  out  his  sentences  with  un 
sparing  hand.  One  day,  after  the  session  was  over,  he  beckoned 
the  chief  of  police  to  him  and  said  :  "  Look  here,  captain,  you  have 
mistaken  your  business,  I  might  as  well  have  a  log  of  wood  on 
the  police  force.  If  you  ever  find  anything  out,  I  am  none  the 
wiser.  I  find  out  everything  without  your  help.  " 

"I  tell  you  everything  of  importance,"  replied  the  chief  of  po 
lice.  "I  don't  trouble  you  with  every  trifle  that  comes  under  my 
notice.  If  I  did,  you  would  think  me  a  gossip." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  general,  "how  are  you  to  find  out  any. 
thing  except  through  gossip  ?  I  don't  think  you  know  anything  to 
gossip  about." 

The  captain  smiled.     "Ah,  general,"  he  said,  "I  know  every- 


74:      INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

thing  that  occurs  in  New  Orleans  ;  everybody's  movements  ;  what 
more  would  you  have  ?  " 

"  Bosh  !  "  said  Butler.  "  I  don't  believe  it ;  you  had  better  say 
you  know  my  movements." 

"  But,  sir,"  replied  the  captain,  "  you  are  the  commander-in- 
chief,  and  we  don't  pretend  to  know  what  you  do." 

"It  is  your  business,"  said  the  general,  " to  know  every  one's 
movements.  You  are  a  humbug,  sir,  and  I  don't  believe  in  you." 

"I  am  sorry,  sir,  to  have  lost  your  confidence,"  said  the  chief  of 
police  ;  "but,  if  it  will  afford  you  any  satisfaction,  I  could  tell 
every  movement  you  have  made  in  the  past  twenty-four  hours." 

"Where  was  I  last  night  at  ten  o'clock  ?"  inquired  the  general. 

"At  General  Shepley's,  eating  a  terrapin  supper,"  was  the  re- 

Pty- 

"At  eleven  o'clock  ?  "  continued  the  general. 

"  Closeted  with  your  brother  at  his  quarters." 

"  At  twelve  o'clock  ?  "  inquired  Butler. 

"Well,  sir,  you  left  your  brother's  at  11.15,  went  to  No.  1,220 
Canal  Street,  knocked  at  the  door,  which  was  opened  by — " 

"  Shut  up,  d — n  you  ! "  thundered  the  irate  general ;  "you  are 

too inquisitive.  The  time  you  spent  in  spying  after  me  might 

have  been  devoted  to  some  useful  purpose.  However,  I  am  satisfied. 
But  who  shadows  you,  and  who  shadows  the  fellow  that  shadows 
you  ?  That's  what  I'd  like  to  know." 

One  day  the  general  was  going  to  his  office  with  only  a  single 
orderly  following,  when  he  saw  two  Union  soldiers  talking  in  a 
friendly  manner  with  a  man  who  was  leaning  on  a  spade,  having 
evidently  stopped  work  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  chat.  The 
general  was  in  citizen's  dress,  and  therefore  did  not  attract  particu 
lar  notice. 

As  he  passed  near  the  group  he  heard  the  man  with  the  spade 
say,  "  We  rebs  gave  you  Yanks  hell  at  Shiloh,  didn't  we  ?  " 

The  general  was  horrified  to  think  that  any  one  in  his  jurisdic 
tion  should  dare  to  talk  treason  openly. 

"Bring  that  man  to  my  office  !"  roared  the  general  to  the  sol 
diers.  "  I  will  make  him  eat  his  words." 

The  man  with  the  spade  protested  that  he  meant  no  harm,  but, 
in  spite  of  all  he  could  say,  he  was  marched  off  to  the  general's 
office. 

It  was  after  two  o'clock  before  the  general  got  through  with  the 
docket  of  poor  devils  and  had  time  to  turn  his  attention  to  the 


BUTLER   AND   THE   IRISHMAN.  75 

man  with  the  spade,  who,  from  the  severity  of  the  punishment 
awarded  his  fellow-prisoners,  began  to  think  he  had  got  into  a 
pretty  bad  scrape. 

At  length  the  general  glared  at  him  fiercely  and  inquired  : 
"  What  did  I  hear  you  say  to  those  two  soldiers  ?  Tell  the  truth 
now." 

""Well,  gin'ral,"  said  the  man,  "I'm  willin'  yer  honor  should 
know  everything  I  said,  an'  I'm  sure  yer  honor  will  agree  with  me 
when  yer  hear  what  I  really  did  say.  Mike  Donovan  is  not  the 
man  to  belie  what  he  says,  nivir  the  bit  of  it,  yer  honor." 

"Well,  then,  speak  out,"  said  the  general,  "and  tell  me  what 
you  said." 

"All  I  said,  gin'ral,"  replied  Mike,  "to  thim  two  Union  boys 
wid  whom  I  was  talkin'  friendly-like,  was,  ( Didn't  we  rebs  give  you 
Yanks  hell  at  Shiloh  ? '  an'  that's  the  whole  ov  it,  gin'ral." 

"And  that  speech,"  said  the  general,  "will  send  you  to  work 
for  the  Government  with  a  ball  and  chain  to  your  leg." 

"Oh,  howly  Moses  ! "  exclaimed  Donovan,  "an'  what'll  become 
ov  me  wife  and  childer  ?  I  can't  stand  the  work,  and  the  muskeet- 
ers  will  suck  all  the  blood  out  ov  me  a-workin'  in  the  foorts  ;  bitter 
the  day  that  I  left  the  bogs  of  auld  Ireland.  Forgive  me,  gin'ral, 
for  the  sake  ov  me  wife  and  childer." 

"You  ought  to  have  thought  of  your  family  before  you  made 
treasonable  speeches  under  the  Union  flag,"  said  the  general.  "  You 
know  the  Bible  says  the  sins  of  the  father  shall  be  visited  on  the 
children." 

"But,  gin'ral,  is  there  nothing  I  can  say,"  said  the  man,  "to  do 
away  wid  your  displeasure  ?  I'll  worruk  the  skin  off  me  hands  if 
ye'll  let  me  sarve  out  me  sintince  here  an'  not  sind  me  to  the  foorts." 

"  No,"  replied  the  general,  "  I  make  no  terms  with  such  a  traitor 
as  yourself  ;  however,  there  is  one  thing  that  may  save  you.  Will 
you  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  ?  "  for  General 
Butler  considered  the  taking  of  the  oath  a  panacea  for  all  evils ; 
any  one  who  took  it  was,  as  it  were,  born  again. 

"  Oh,  yis,  yer  honor,"  said  the  man,  his  face  brightening  up  ; 
u  faith,  an'  I'll  take  it  iron-clad,  or  copper  fastened,  or  any  other 
kind  of  oath  to  get  out  of  this  trouble,  an'  I'll  kape  it,  too." 

The  Bible  was  brought  out,  and  Mr.  Donovan  took  his  solemn 
oath  to  be  faithful  to  the  Union  and  serve  with  heart  and  soul  in 
her  hour  of  need,  probably  with  a  reservation  in  favor  of  the  stars 
and  bars,  for  which  he  had  lately  been  so  enthusiastic. 


76     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

When  this  important  ceremony  was  concluded  the  newly  made 
patriot  turned  to  the  general  and  said,  "  Now  I'm  a  Union  man  and 
no  mistake,  ain't  I  ?  " 

"Yes,  you  are,"  replied  the  general,  "and  take  care  you  keep 
your  oath,  or  I  will  hang  you." 

"Divil  a  bit  there's  a  break  in  me,"  said  Donovan.  "I'm  in- 
titled  to  all  the  pertection  av  the  Government,  ain't  I  ?" 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  general. 

"  An'  I'm  to  be  pertected  in  free  spache  like  any  other  Union 
man?" 

"Yes,  yes,"  replied  the  general. 

"Well,  thin,  gin'ral,  yer  honor,  I  want  to  ask  yer  honor  wan 
question,  if  yer  honor  plazes." 

"  Out  with  it,"  said  the  general,  "for  I  can't  stand  here  all  the 
morning  bothering  with  your  affairs. " 

"Well,  thin,  gin'ral,  yer  honor,"  said  Mike,  "didn't  thim  rebs 
give  us  Yanks  hell  at  Shiloh  ?  " 

The  general  collapsed.  "Get  out  of  this  quick,  and  don't  let 
me  ever  hear  you  say  '  Shiloh '  again,  or  you  may  find  your  way  to 
the  forts  yet,  notwithstanding  your  oath  of  allegiance." 

Mr.  Donovan  did  not  wait  for  a  second  invitation,  but  slipped 
off  to  join  his  "wife  and  childer,"  and  the  general,  although  rather 
amused  at  the  incident,  cautioned  the  police  to  keep  an  eye  on  this 
newly  fledged  Union  man. 

There  was  no  apparent  Union  feeling  in  New  Orleans  when  we 
captured  it.  There  may  have  been  isolated  cases  of  persons  who 
still  had  a  love  for  the  Union  of  their  fathers,  but  the  only  person 
whom  I  ever  knew  to  extend  the  hand  of  welcome  to  a  Union  officer 
was  the  late  William  H.  Hunt,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
and  Minister  to  Eussia. 

He  was  outspoken  in  his  friendship  for  the  Union  men,  but  it 
lost  him  the  good-will  of  the  residents  of  New  Orleans,  and  after 
the  war  he  was  obliged  to  move  North  on  account  of  the  social  press 
ure  against  him. 

I  met  people  in  the  street  whom  I  had  formerly  known  intimate 
ly,  but  they  passed  me  as  if  I  were  a  stranger.  Any  manifestation 
of  Union  feeling  would  have  been  encouraging,  but  there  was  not 
enough  to  raise  a  flutter. 

I  had  some  old  friends  in  the  city,  with  whom  I  had  been  ac 
customed  to  stay  when  I  was  there,  and  of  whom  I  was  very  fond. 

As  soon  as  I  could  find  time  I  procured  protection  papers  for 


CALLING  UPON   OLD   FRIENDS.  77 

these  friends— at  that  period  a  matter  of  great  importance— and, 
armed  with  these,  I  went  in  pursuit  of  them. 

I  found  the  house  just  as  when  I  was  last  there,  a  few  years  be 
fore,  and  in  a  neighborhood  so  quiet  that  it  would  seem  that  the 
sounds  of  war  could  never  penetrate  there. 

The  blinds  were  drawn,  but  I  did  not  think  anything  of  that, 
as  New  Orleans  ladies  are  proud  of  their  complexions,  and  I  thought 
they  might  wish  to  show  themselves  to  the  best  advantage  in  a  sub 
dued  light. 

There  was  no  answer  to  my  knock  at  the  door,  although  I  knew 
the  family  were  in  the  house.  I  continued  knocking  until  people 
in  the  neighborhood,  attracted  by  the  unusual  noise  in  that  quiet 
street,  began  to  look  from  their  windows.  At  last,  in  despair  of 
getting  an  answer,  I  put  my  hand  oil  the  knob,  the  door  opened, 
and  I  walked  in. 

I  saw  no  one  in  the  lower  part  of  the  house  until  I  reached  the 
kitchen,  where  the  cook,  an  old  acquaintance,  was  seated,  pipe  in 
mouth,  beside  the  hearth. 

"  Mffly,"  said  I,  "  don't  you  know  me  ?" 

"  No,  sar,  nebber  seed  you  befo',"  was  the  reply. 

"  Where's  your  old  mistress  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  She  ain't  har,  sar ;  she  done  gone  out." 

"Where  is  Miss  Mary,  then  ?  " 

"She  done  gone  out  too." 

"  Where  are  the  rest  of  the  family  ?  " 

"Dey  is  all  done  gone  out,  sar,  as  you  kin  see  fo'  yourse'f." 

"  Where  have  they  gone  ?  " 

"Don't  know  noffin'  'bout  it,  sar,"  said  Milly. 

"And  you  say  you  don't  know  me,  Milly  ?"  I  inquired. 

"No,  sar,  nebber  seen  you  afore  in  my  born  days,  do  I  specs 
youse  one  ob  dem  Union  folks  what's  come  here  to  kill  us  all." 

"  Now,  Milly,"  I  said,  "  I  believe  you  are  lying,  and  that  the 
family  are  at  home.  Go  tell  them  I  am  here,  and  shall  not  leave 
until  I  see  them." 

"Dey  don't  know  you,  sar,"  said  Milly,  "kase  youse  de  enemy 
ob  dar  country." 

"  Oh,  that's  it,  is  it  ?  Very  well,  I  will  sit  in  the  parlor  until 
I  see  the  family  if  I  have  to  stay  there  a  week,"  I  said. 

"Dey  is  done,  gone  away  for  two  week,"  said  the  old  darkey, 
"  and  won't  nebber  come  back  s'long  as  you  is  here."  So  saying,  she 
knocked  the  ashes  from  her  pipe  and  disappeared  into  the  wash-room. 


78      INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE    CIVIL   WAR. 

At  that  moment  a  parrot,  from  his  perch  in  the  kitchen,  broke 
out  into  a  hoarse  laugh,  whistled,  flapped  his  wings,  and  yelled  out, 
"  Que  voulez-vous  9 "  That  was  the  straw  that  broke  the  camel's 
back,  and  I  retreated  from  the  inhospitable  kitchen  and  took  a  seat 
in  the  parlor. 

For  half  an  hour  I  waited,  but  not  a  sound  met  my  ear.  At 
length  a  little  nigger,  with  nothing  on  but  a  shirt,  poked  his  head 
in  the  door,  then  vanished  as  if  he  had  seen  a  ghost. 

At  the  expiration  of  another  half-hour  a  superannuated  dog, 
whom  I  had  known  well  in  former  days  and  with  whom  I  was  once 
a  favorite,  looked  into  the  apartment,  fixed  his  blear  eyes  on  me  for 
a  moment,  dropped  his  head,  and  walked  away  with  the  hairs  on 
his  back  bristling  up. 

Still  I  sat  there  ;  the  time  passed  so  slowly  it  seemed  as  if  I  had 
been  there  for  hours.  I  picked  up  a  guitar  from  the  corner  and 
played  an  air  well  known  to  the  family.  I  heard  a  discordant 
laugh,  and,  looking  up,  saw  the  parrot  hobbling  in.  It  sang  out, 
"  Que  voulez-vous  f  "  and  out  it  went  again,  screaming. 

I  was  in  despair.  Neither  cook,  dog,  parrot,  or  little  nigger 
would  have  anything  to  do  with  me. 

Presently  I  heard  the  rustle  of  a  dress  on  the  stair,  and  in  sailed 
a  graceful  woman,  once  a  warm  friend.  I  arose,  extended  my 
hand,  and  exclaimed,  "I  am  delighted  to  see  you." 

The  lady  was  as  stiff  and  cold  as  Lot's  wife  when  turned  into 
the  pillar  of  salt. 

"  I  can't  shake  hands  with  an  enemy  of  my  country,"  she  said. 
"  How  do  I  know  but  what  one  of  your  bomb-shells  has  fallen  on 
the  head  of  one  of  my  sons,  who  are  gloriously  fighting  for  their 
beloved  country  ?  " — one  boy  was  thirteen  years  old  and  the  other 
eleven  ! 

"  How  came  you  to  let  them  go  ?"  I  inquired. 

"They  ran  away,"  she  replied,  "to  the  forts,  to  help  keep 
Farragut's  fleet  from  the  city." 

"A  forlorn  hope,  my  good  friend,"  said  I ;  "but  you  need  fear 
nothing  :  boys  of  that  tender  age  would  be  well  cared  for  by  the 
officers,  and  not  allowed  to  expose  themselves." 

t(  I  am  not  your  good  friend"  said  the  lady.  "I  am  your  ene 
my,  and  ma  told  me  to  say  that  if  you  had  come  here  wounded 
and  dying,  she  wouldn't  have  given  you  a  glass  o£  water." 

"Shocking  !"  I  exclaimed  ;  "but  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it. 
If  I  had  come  here  wounded,  your  mother  would  have  been  the 


A   REBUFF.  79 

first  to  hunt  me  up  and  attend  me.  Now  listen  to  me/'  I  contin 
ued  ;  ' f  all  this  talk  of  yours  is  nonsense  and  very  unbecoming. 
You  are  too  kind-hearted  a  woman  to  express  such  sentiments. 
You  have  committed  a  certain  part  to  memory  like  that  parrot  of 
yours,  and  don't  mean  half  you  say." 

She  began  to  cry.  Get  a  woman  to  crying,  and  her  enmity  is 
half  conquered.  Tears  open  the  fountain  of  the  heart.  In  half 
an  hour  we  were  as  good  friends  as  ever.  I  pressed  upon  her  Gen 
eral  Butler's  protection,  which  I  thought  the  family  might  need. 
Although  at  first  she  was  opposed  to  touching  the  papers,  yet  when 
I  told  her  they  meant  safety  from  domiciliary  visits,  guardianship 
of  the  police,  bread  and  meat  in  case  of  scarcity  of  provisions,  etc., 
she  was  satisfied. 

This  lady  was  the  only  member  of  the  family  who  would  see  me, 
though  I  knew  they  were  all  up-stairs. 

When  I  went  away  I  said,  "  We  shall  not  meet  again,  for  I 
shall  not  subject  myself  to  another  rebuff  such  as  I  have  this  day 
experienced,  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  all  regret  your  action." 

"No,"  she  replied,  "we  are  determined  to  hold  no  intercourse 
with  our  enemies,  no  matter  what  happens,  and  I  know  ma  will 
never  forgive  me  for  being  so  friendly  with  you.  Don't  come  here 
again,  for  it  is  painful  to  us  all  to  meet  you." 

I  departed,  sad  enough  to  see  the  minds  of  people  whom  I 
knew  to  be  as  good  and  kind  as  any  in  the  world  so  warped  by 
their  secession  sentiments,  about  the  merits  of  which  they  had  not 
the  faintest  idea.  They  were  afflicted  with  a  madness  for  which 
there  was  no  antidote  at  hand. 

"  Old  Clootie  was  with  them ;  he  said  all  was  right. 
He  held  the  bottle  and  urged  on  the  fight." 

I  did  not  see  my  secession  friends  for  a  long  time  afterward. 

Soon  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  on  July  4,  1863,  I  proceeded 
in  my  flag-ship  Black  Hawk  to  New  Orleans,  in  order  that  Admi 
ral  Farragut  might  turn  over  to  me  the  command  of  the  entire 
Mississippi  Eiver  and  its  tributaries. 

On  the  second  night  of  my  arrival  in  New  Orleans  I  was  sit 
ting  in  the  cabin,  when  Fleet-Captain  Breese  came  in  and  informed 
me  that  an  elderly  lady  wished  to  see  me.  "From  what  I  have 
heard  you  say,"  he  continued,  "  I  think  it  must  be  your  old  friend 
Mrs.  ." 

I  went  at  once  into  the  forward  cabin,  and  found  it  was  indeed 
my  old  friend  who  a  year  ago  had  thought  so  hardly  of  me. 


80      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

As  I  entered  the  cabin  she  rushed  toward  me,  but  I  stood  un 
moved,  bowed  formally,  and  said,  "  I  am  the  admiral,  madam  ;  can 
I  be  of  any  service  to  you  ?  " 

"  Why,"  exclaimed  the  lady,  "am  I  so  changed  that  you  do  not 

recognize  me  ?  Why,  I  am  Mrs. ,  your  old  friend  who  always 

loved  you  like  a  son." 

" Impossible,  madam,"  I  replied.  "You  can  not  be  Mrs. . 

Why,  the  last  time  I  was  here  in  1862  she  wouldn't  see  me,  although 
I  called  at  her  house  to  offer  her  assistance  and  protection.  She 
sent  me  word  by  her  daughter  that  if  I  had  come  to  her  wounded 
and  dying  she  wouldn't  have  given  me  a  cup  of  water  to  quench 
my  thirst." 

"  Oh,  no  !  "  she  exclaimed,  "I  never  said  that — never,  never  ! 
We  are  all  Union  people  now  ;  we  are  no  longer  Confederates. 
Pierre  has  a  twelve-hundred-dollar  clerkship  in  the  post-office, 
Walter  has  a  nine-hundred-dollar  place  in  the  custom-house, 
George  is  in  the  Commissary-General's  office,  James  is  a  clerk  on  the 
levee  to  register  cargo  from  Government  steamers,  and  Harry  is  in 
the  Signal  Service.  We  were  never  so  well  off  in  our  lives  before. 
I  have  my  pension,  which  I  couldn't  get  while  the  rebels  held  the 
city,  and  Mary  and  Emma  have  both  a  promise  for  the  place  of 
folders  in  the  post-office  within  the  next  month.  Oh,  we  are  all  for 
the  Union  and  the  old  flag  ! 

"And  then,"  continued  the  old  lady,  "New  Orleans  is  so  beau 
tiful  now  ;  it  is  clean  as  a  new  pin,  there  is  no  sickness,  you  never 
see  a  drunken  man,  there  are  no  gambling-houses  to  entice  young 
men  from  home,  the  markets  are  so  cheap,  and  the  streets  are  so 
orderly  that  a  woman  can  walk  them  alone  at  any  hour  of  the 
night.  Yes,  we  are  all  Union.  Cousin  Le  Bert  is  to  be  appointed 
solicitor  of  something,  I  don't  know  exactly  what,  and  uncle  La 
Bias  is  to  be  Captain  of  the  Port.  Oh,  what  a  happy  Union  fam 
ily  we  are  ! 

"And  it  is  so  lovely  here  now  ! "  went  on  the  old  lady.  "  Gen 
eral  Banks  is  such  a  handsome  man  and  Mrs.  Banks  such  a  lovely 
woman,  and  they  keep  up  such  style,  and  ride  in  a  splendid  carriage 
with  a  body-guard 'just  like  royalty.  Mrs.  Banks  has  her  weekly 
receptions  at  the  St.  Charles,  and  all  the  best  ladies  appear  there  in 
laces  and  diamonds.  They  say  Queen  Victoria  don't  ha^ve  anything 
to  equal  it. 

"And  then,  too,  Cousin  Le  Febre  is  going  to  become  Union  as 
soon  as  he  can  get  the  position  of  steamboat  inspector,  and — " 


A  CHANGE   OF  SENTIMENT.  81 

There  is  no  knowing  how  long  the  old  lady  would  haye  run  on 
had  I  not  interrupted  her. 

"Well,"  I  said  at  last,  " my  dear  old  friend,  since  you  have  be 
come  Union  and  love  the  flag  under  which  all  of  us  were  born, 
come  to  my  arms.  I  don't  believe  you  ever  said  what  they  accused 
you  of.  You  can  thank  your  stars  that  you  are  living  once  more 
under  the  folds  of  the  star-spangled  banner,  and  that  you  have  a 
beneficent  Government  that  will  provide  offices  for  all  the  family 
and  secure  to  you  a  pension  for  the  services  of  your  gallant  hus 
band,  who  would  have  died  sooner  than  raise  a  hand  against  his  old 
flag." 

"Ah,  yes,"  sighed  the  old  lady,  "he  was  Union  all  over,  but 
there  was  no  craziness  in  the  air  then ;  everybody  was  happy,  every 
body  had  an  office,  and  all  the  widows  had  pensions." 

"My  dear  friend,"  said  I,  "that's  the  only  way  to  preserve  the 
Union ;  give  every  one  a  fat  office,  and  they  will  stick  to  the  flag 
until  it  blows  away.  That  was  the  difficulty  with  half  the  people  ; 
they  had  to  go  out  of  office  and  see  the  other  half  come  in,  and, 
not  liking  to  give  up  the  loaves  and  fishes,  they  established  an 
office  for  each  one  of  themselves.  I  think  your  idea  of  keeping  up 
the  Union  is  the  correct  one.  Still  you  have  been  guilty  of  an 
oversight  in  not  securing  offices  for  that  old  dog  of  yours  and  that 
intelligent  parrot ;  they  seem  to  have  been  left  out  in  the  cold." 

"Ah,  yes,"  said  Mrs.  ,  "you  remember  them,  do  you? 

Well,  worse  people  than  they  have  been  appointed  to  office." 

"  I  hope  both  of  them  are  loyal  to  the  Union,"  said  I. 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  "the  dog  will  bark  at  a  rebel  soldier,  and 
the  parrot  can  say  Vive  la  bagatelle  !  " 

Next  day  my  old  friend  and  all  her  grandchildren,  nephews, 
nieces,  sisters,  cousins,  and  aunts  dined  with  me  and  insisted  on 
having  the  Union  flag  festooned  over  the  doors  so  that  they  might 
show  their  Union  feeling  by  walking  underneath.  They  all 
seemed  contented  and  happy.  I  am  satisfied  that  if,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  war,  every  man  in  the  rebel  army  had  been  given 
an  office,  and  all  the  widows  in  the  Confederacy  a  pension,  the  revo 
lution  would  not  have  lasted  a  week. 

New  Orleans  was  a  prolific  field  for  anecdotes  of  the  war,  but 
my  limits  will  not  permit  me  to  linger  here  any  longer,  and,  as 
these  reminiscences  are  simply  for  amusement  and  not  for  the  pur 
pose  of  exciting  unkind  feeling,  I  will  pass  on. 


82      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ASCENDING   THE    MISSISSIPPI — ODD   SPECIMENS   OP  CONFEDERATES 
— A  PLANTATION  MANSION — DOUBTING  MOSES. 

WHILE  ascending  the  Mississippi  on  my  way  to  join  Farragut  at 
Vicksburg,  I  had  a  good  opportunity  of  witnessing  the  disposition 
of  the  people  along  the  river.  Notwithstanding  our  desire  to  be 
friends  with  them,  they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  us — they 
were  mad  with  the  secession  fever.  As  to  the  women,  they  were 
very  Spartans  in  the  secession  cause ;  in  fact,  rather  overdid  the 
matter. 

One  day,  while  turning  a  bend  in  the  river  with  two  schooners 
in  tow  of  my  vessel,  a  boat  containing  two  men  was  seen  crossing 
the  river  ahead  of  us.  We  had  just  been  fired  upon  by  field-pieces 
from  a  high  bluff,  and  several  of  our  men  had  been  killed  and 
wounded.  I  wanted  to  find  out  the  name  of  the  place,  so  that  I 
could  warn  our  vessels  to  be  on  their  guard  when  they  reached  that 
point  and  have  their  batteries  ready.  We,  having  a  mortar-vessel 
on  each  side  of  our  steamers,  could  not  respond  to  such  attacks, 
and  had  to  bear  them  as  best  we  could. 

I  captured  the  boat  and  brought  the  two  men  on  board  my  ves 
sel.  Far  from  showing  any  fear,  these  persons  were  as  defiant  as 
possible.  They  were  coarsely  dressed  in  linsey-woolsey,  wore  slouch 
hats,  and  had  the  appearance  of  laborers. 

"I'd  like  to  know,"  said  one  of  them,  "how  you  dare  captur'  a 
peaceable  citizen  of  the  Confed'rit  States  who  ain't  done  nothin'  to 
you.  This  is  a  highway,  and  I  think  we  have  a  right  to  travel  it." 

"  Walk  down  in  the  cabin,  gentlemen,"  I  said,  "and  take  some 
refreshments." 

"  We  ain't  no  gentlemen,"  said  the  man,  "  an'  we  don't  want 
none  of  your  dam'  refreshments.  We've  got  a  gallon  of  whisky 
good  enough  for  an  emperor  in  our  dug-out,  an'  we  don't  want  any 
of  your  molasses  and  water.  Zeke  an'  I  have  taken  four  drinks  al 
ready  since  we  left  the  store." 

The  last  statement  accounted  for  their  belligerent  attitude. 

"Well,  then,  gentlemen,"  I  said,  "may  I  at  least  have  the 
pleasure  of  knowing  your  names." 

"I  told  you,"  said  the  man,  "that  we  ain't  no  gentlemen  ;  we 


TWO  RARE   CONFEDERATES.  83 

are  Confed'rit  citizens ;  but,  if  it'll  do  you  any  good,  my  name  is 
Jake  Potter,  and  this  other  feller  is  Zeke  Opdyke." 

"Well,  Jake,"  said  I,  "you  and  Zeke  are  not  Confederate  sol 
diers,  are  you  ?  " 

"I'm  Jake  to  my  friends,"  said  the  man,  "but  you  an'  I  ain't 
intimate  enough  for  you  to  call  me  Jake.  My  name's  Mr.  Potter 
when  you  speak  to  me." 

"And  I,"  spoke  up  the  other,  "am  Mr.  Opdyke  when  I'm  taken 
outer  my  boat  an'  my  w'isky-jug  left  in  thar  for  yer  dam  sailors 
to  suck.  I  seen  one  just  now  pokin'  his  long  nose  inter  it." 

I  acknowledged  the  force  of  the  rebuke.  "Well,  Mr.  Potter," 
said  I,  "  I  suppose  you  are  an  out-and-out  rebel." 

"  You  bet  I  am,"  replied  that  worthy. 

"And  me,  too,"  said  Mr.  Opdyke,  "though  day  afore  yesterday 
I  was  on  the  fence." 

"And  pray,  sir,  if  I  may  inquire,  what  caused  you  to  change 
your  sentiments  ?  " 

"Well,  then,  Kurnel,"  said  Mr.  Opdyke,  "if  you  must  know, 
the  Confed'rit  Gov'ment  hired  my  wagon-team  at  three  dollars  a 
day,  an'  I  jined  'em  right  off." 

"They  pay  you  in  Confederate  money,  I  suppose,"  was  my  next 
remark. 

"  What  'n  thunder  do  you  s'p'ose  they'd  pay  me  in,  Kurnel  ? " 
inquired  Mr.  Opdyke.  "  You  don't  suppose  I'd  take  that  Union 
trash,  worth  only  eighty  cents  on  the  dollar,  while  ourn  is  worth  a 
hundred  an'  twenty,  do  ye  ?  " 

"Well,  Mr.  Potter,"  I  said,  turning  to  the  other  man,  "where 
were  you  born  ?  " 

"  Now,  Kurnel,  it  strikes  me  you  are  gittin'  a  leetle  too  inquisi 
tive,  but,  if  it'll  do  you  any  good,  I  was  born  in  East  Haddam,  Con 
necticut." 

"And  Mr.  Opdyke  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "not  more'n  a  yard  from  the  same  place." 

"And  you  have  joined  the  rebels  heart  and  soul?"  I  in 
quired. 

"You  bet  we  have,"  they  both  replied  at  once. 

"How  long  have  you  been  South,  Mr.  Potter  ?"  I  asked. 

"Wall,  I  don't  know  as  I'm  bound  to  crimernate  myself,  but 
I  don't  mind  tellin'  you  I've  been  here  goin'  on  two  year.  We  two 
come  South  together,  but  we  ain't  a  goin'  to  answer  any  more  ques 
tions  s'long  as  we're  pris'ners." 


84:      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

"You  are  not  prisoners,"  I  said  ;  "we  don't  make  war  on  un 
armed  men  or  women." 

"The  devil  you  don't,"  said  Mr.  Opdyke ;  "if  some  of  them 
bummers  of  yourn  didn't  steal  all  the  chickens  off  Mrs.  Clapham's 
plantation  last  night,  then  I'll  be  fizzled  ! " 

That  rather  took  me  aback ;  but,  quickly  recovering,  I  said, 
"  Can  you  tell  me  the  name  of  the  vessel  that  perpetrated  such  an 
outrage  ?  " 

"She  was  called  the  Sally  Brown,"  replied  Mr.  Opdyke.  ("It 
is  the  Sarah  Bruen,"  whispered  one  of  the  officers  to  me. ) 

"Yes,"  continued  Mr.  Potter,  "them  fellers  on  board  the  Sally 
Brown  tuk  a  lot  of  water  without  askin'  fur  it,  an'  now,  if  you 
don't  call  that  makin'  war  on  defenseless  people,  I  dunno  what  you 
do  call  it." 

"But,"  said  I,  "didn't  the  people  in  the  Sally  Brown  pay  for 
the  chickens  ?  " 

"Wall,  yes,"  said  Mr.  Opdyke,  "sich  pay  as  it  was  ;  they  only 
gin  six  dollars,  an'  Union  dollars  at  that,  for  a  dozen  chickens, 
while  all  along  the  river  they  charges  six  Confed'rit  dollars  for  one 
chicken." 

At  this  statement  we  all  laughed,  much  to  the  annoyance  of  the 
Southern  sympathizers.  "  You  larf  now,  Kurnel,"  said  Mr.  Potter, 
"but  you'll  larf  t'other  side  of  yer  mouth  afore  you  git  to  Vicks- 
burg.  Kirby  Smith'll  pickle  you  about  twenty  miles  above  here." 

"Thank  you,  Mr.  Potter,  for  your  information,"  I  said,  "we 
will  try  to  be  ready  for  him." 

"  Oh,  he'll  larf  at  them  ole  iron  pots  of  yourn,"  said  Mr.  Potter, 
pointing  to  the  mortars. 

"Well,  Mr.  Potter,  please  tell  me  how  long  you  resided  in  Con 
necticut." 

"Now,  Kurnel,"  said  Mr.  Potter,  "  I  don't  know  as  that's  any 
thing  to  you,  but  I  don't  mind  tellin'  you  I  was  there,  man  an' 
boy,  fur  twenty-nine  year." 

"And  you,  Mr.  Opdyke  ?" 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "I  lived  there  twenty-seven  year." 

"  And  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  two  gentlemen,  after 
living  in  your  native  State  twenty-nine  and  twenty-seven  years,  re 
spectively,  after  forming  the  dearest  ties  and  associations,  can  come 
South  and  in  two  short  years  be  won  over  by  these  people  — one  of 
you  by  hiring  his  cart,  the  other  for  I  don't  know  what  ?  " 

"Wall,  Kurnel,"  said  Mr.  Potter,  "you  talk  durned  well,  but 


MR.   POTTER'S  STORY.  85 

all  them  hifalutin'  words  is  wasted  on  me ;  if  you  had  married  a 
wildcat  widder,  with  a  wildcat  darter  sixteen  years  old,  an*  Jeff 
Davis  a  backin'  on  'em  up,  you  wouldn't  a  stood  out  an  hour.  I 
stuck  it  out  for  three  days  an*  nights,  a  sittin'  out  in  the  rain,  be 
fore  I  became  a  Confed'rit." 

"  Yes,"  interrupted  Mr.  Opdyke,  "  the  ole  woman  kep'  a  double- 
barrel  gun  handy  for  him,  an'  says  she,  'Jake,  don't  you  move  till 
you're  ready  to  become  one  of  us,  or  I'll  work  some  button-holes  in 
your  dam'  Yankee  carcase  ! ' ' 

"And  what  made  you  surrender,  Mr.  Potter  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Why,"  replied  that  worthy,  "when  Zeke  he  come  over  to 
fetch  me  some  whisky,  my  old  woman  she  run  out  and  smashed  the 
bottle  over  Zeke's  head,  an'  then,  when  I  was  most  starved  an'  begged 
for  suthin  to  eat,  she  sent  me  a  bowl  o'  hot  water  with  a  chicken- 
feather  in  it.  '  Thar,'  says  she,  '  that  'ere  chicken-soup  is  all  you'll 
git  till  you  h'ist  the  Confed'rit  flag.1  So  I  had  to  cave  in.  Zeke  can 
tell  you  what  I  went  through  with ;  you  wouldn't  have  stood  it 
half  a  day,  Kurnel,  I  know  it  by  the  cut  of  your  jib." 

"  But  how  did  you  come  to  marry  such  a  woman,  Mr.  Potter  ?" 
said  I,  sympathetically. 

"Ah,"  replied  the  victim,  "the  Lord  only  knows.  Zeke  can 
tell  you  all  about  it,  but  it  overcomes  me  to  think  of  it,  unless  I 
have  a  drink  of  w'isky." 

I  ordered  the  steward  to  bring  up  what  was  called  on  board 
"vinegar  bitters,"  but  which  I  could  not  help  suspecting  was  some 
thing  stronger. 

Mr.  Potter  smacked  his  lips  as  he  took  the  medicine.  "  That 
there  stuff  is  real  ole  Union,  an'  no  mistake.  It  held  me  back  some 
time  afore  I'd  think  of  jinin'  the  Confed'rits,  for  fear  I'd  never  be 
able  to  go  back  an'  have  a  fling  at  the  old  critter.  But  you  can  call 
us  Jake  an'  Zeke  now,  Kurnel,  as  much  as  you  please.  I  ain't  a 
goin'  to  stand  on  ceremony  with  a  feller  as  keeps  such  likker  as 
that,  an'  a  man  as  sympathizes  with  another  as  you  done  with  me. 
Why,  if  I'd  a  bin  yer  brother  you  couldn't  a  took  more  interest  in 
my  case.  Tell  the  kurnel  all  about  it,  Zeke." 

"Yes,"  said  his  friend,  "just  as  soon  as  I  get  a  mouthful  of 
them  bitters  to  sustain  me  while  I  relate  that  melancholy  story  ov 
your  marryin'  that  durned  alligator,  as  goes  cavortin'  round  the 
house  as  if  she  owned  all  the  guaner  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

"Well,  you  must  know,  Kurnel,  me  an'  Jake  was  hired  hands 
on  Mrs.  Kumpkins's  place.  We  was  hired  the  day  old  Rumpkins 


86     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

died  to  help  handle  the  coffin,  an*  two  weeks  arter  I  hearn  that  gal 
of  hern  say,  'Ma,  I'm  tired  a  totin'  wood  an'  feedin'  the  cow,  an' 
we  must  have  a  man  ter  do  it.' 

"  *  Well,'  said  Mrs.  Rumpkins,  'hain't  we  got  two  men  ?  Make 
one  of  'em  tote  wood ;  they  kin  do  it  when  they  comes  to  their 
meals.' 

" ' I  asked  one  of  'em,'  said  Belle,  'an'  he  tole  me  he'd  see  me 
durned  first.  We  don't  want  that  kind  of  a  man,  ma ;  we  want  a 
married  man ;  we  can  do  as  we  please  with  a  good-natered  feller 
like  ole  Pop,  who  can't  get  away  if  we  crowd  him.  You  must 
marry  Jake  or  Zeke.  If  you  don't  I  will,  an'  I'd  like  to  hear  him 
say  then  that  he'll  see  me  durned  first.' 

"'You're  crazy,  Belle,'  says  the  ole  catamount.  'Your  pop's 
only  dead  two  weeks,  an'  you  want  me  to  marry  agin.' 

" '  Well,  then,'  says  Belle,  '  say  three  weeks  an'  bring  him  to  the 
halter,  for  I  ain't  a  goin'  to  tote  no  more  wood,  nor  feed  no  more 
cow  arter  that.' 

"  'Well,  I  agree  to  that,'  says  old  Mrs.  Rumpkins. 

" '  Cos  if  you  don't,'  said  Belle,  '  I'll  marry  one  on  'em  myself, 
an'  we'll  see  who  is  mistress  then.' 

"  I  wish  you  could  a  seen  how  Mrs.  Rumpkins  laid  out  her  lines. 
You  seen  a  cat  watchin'  a  canary-bird,  ain't  you  ?  an'  how  the 
critter  crawls  up  an'  purrs  soft  as  a  Jew's-harp,  an'  then  you  seen  the 
little  bird  jumpin'  round  all  in  a  twitter,  an'  how  at  last,  when  the 
canary  clings  with  its  claws  to  the  wires  of  its  cage,  Mrs.  Cat  grabs 
him,  an'  he's  a  goner. 

"That's  the  way  Mrs.  Rumpkins  done.  Says  she,  'Belle,  I'll 
take  Jake.  I  don't  like  that  other  feller ;  he  eats  too  much,  an'  I'll 
get  rid  of  him.'  So  she  piled  it  up  sweet  on  Jake  until  he  didn't 
know  his  alphabet  from  the  multiplication  table,  an'  then  she  lassoed 
him.  You  seen  'em  catch  cattle  in  Texas  ?  They  have  a  long  lariat, 
an'  throw  it  over  the  critter's  horns  goin'  full  split,  an'  bring  him 
up  all  standin'.  Now  Mrs.  Rumpkins  uses  her  long,  oily  tongue 
for  a  lariat,  an'  so  wound  it  round  poor  Jake  he  couldn't  a  tole  who 
he  was ;  then,  when  he  was  quiet  as  an  old  horse  with  a  cart-load 
of  bricks  behind  him,  she  marches  him  off  to  Squire  Spanker's 
office. 

'"Here,  Squire,'  says  she,  'is  a  man  wot  owes  me  reparation, 
an'  I'll  pay  the  two  dollars  fur  the  marriage  ceremony,  an'  here's 
the  same  ring  as  poor,  dear  Rumpkins  put  on  my  finger,  an'  I'll  use 
it  agin.  This  'ere  feller  is  a  Yank,  an'  I  want  him  to  see  that  he 


MR.  POTTER'S  MARITAL  EXPERIENCES.  87 

can't  come  down  here  an'  win  the  affections  of  a  lone  widder,  an' 
then  go  off  an'  larf  at  her.' 

"  '  Well,  sir,'  says  the  squire  to  Jake,  ( what  have  you  got  to  say 
to  these  here  charges  ? ' 

" '  Donno  ! '  says  Jake. 

" '  Well,  then,  stan'  up  an'  be  married,  or  else  be  drafted  into 
the  Confed'rit  army/  says  the  squire.  So  they  was  married  then 
an'  there,  an'  the  widder  tuk  his  arm  an'  toted  him  home,  an'  says 
she,  '  Now,  Jake,  afore  you  get  a  bit  of  weddin'-cake,  tote  in  the 
wood  for  the  day,  an'  mix  the  feed  for  the  cow.'  Jake  obeyed 
orders,  an'  has  been  the  most  successful  husband  I  ever  see.  The 
only  time  he  ever  showed  a  disposition  to  kick  was  when  they 
wanted  him  to  turn  Confed'rit,  an'  then  the  ole  woman  went  for 
Jake  with  a  shot-gun.  Now  that's  the  whole  story.  We  are  both 
Confeds,  an'  you  can't  help  us.  Belle's  got  her  eye  on  me,  an'  I'd 
no  more  dare  desert  than  nothin' ! ' J 

All  this  time  Jake  said  nothing,  but  looked  very  melancholy. 

" Well,  Mr.  Potter,"  I  said,  "you  must  keep  up  your  spirits; 
worse  things  have  happened  to  people,  and  they  have  lived  to  get 
over  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  victim,  "I  might  a-married  'em  both  to  onct, 
an'  then  what  would  I  do  but  jine  the  Confed'rit  army,  an'  git  a 
Union  bullet  through  me  ?" 

While  all  this  was  going  on  we  had  proceeded  some  distance  up 
the  river.  I  therefore  recommended  that  the  two  men  should  go 
home,  for  fear  Mrs.  Potter  would  come  after  them.  So  they  bade 
us  good-by,  and  stepped  into  their  skiff  with  rather  sorrowful 
faces.  Mr.  Potter's  last  words  were,  "Kurnel,  don't  forget  to  say, 
all  along  the  river,  what  all-fired  rebels  we  two  fellers  are.  If  I 
warn't  afeard  the  old  woman  would  hear  me — for  she  has  ears  as 
long  as  a  telegraph-pole — I'd  hip,  hip,  hurrah  !  for  the  old  flag ; 
but  it  can't  be  did." 

Mr.  Potter's  experience  was  a  sad  commentary  on  the  matrimo 
nial  state  ;  but  Mrs.  Rumpkins  must  not  be  taken  as  a  representa 
tive  Southern  woman,  for  the  women  of  the  South,  though  of 
Spartan  character  and  willing  to  suffer  everything  rather  than  sac 
rifice  their  opinions,  have  generally  much  gentleness  and  refine 
ment. 

That  night  we  tied  up  to  the  bank  at Landing,  where  some 

of  the  bomb- vessels,  alias  "bummers,"  had  preceded  me. 

When  I  arrived  the  levee  was  all  lighted  up  by  the  bonfires 


88      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

which  the  negroes  had  kindled,  which  brought  out  in  relief  the 
dusky  forms  of  four  or  five  hundred  of  the  colored  population,  to 
gether  with  the  mansion  of  the  owner  of  the  estate,  and  the  cabins 
of  the  negroes. 

On  the  front  porch  of  the  mansion  were  collected  the  gentlefolks, 
their  faces  exhibiting  some  wonder  and  alarm. 

As  soon  as  the  vessels  were  secured  to  the  bank,  we  landed  about 
a  hundred  armed  sailors  and  marched  them  to  the  rear  of  the 
houses,  as  a  precaution  against  an  attack  by  guerrillas  or  light  artil 
lery,  which  had  begun  to  infest  the  banks  of  the  river. 

I  sent  an  officer  at  once  to  inform  the  lady  of  the  mansion — for 
I  was  told  there  were  only  ladies  there — that  she  need  be  under  no 
apprehensions,  as  these  were  only  sentries  thrown  out  to  keep  the 
sailors  from  wandering  about  her  place. 

In  the  mean  time  the  negroes  were  so  jubilant  and  boisterous 
that  they  could  not  restrain  themselves ;  they  danced  about  like 
mad,  and  scattered  the  fire  so  that  I  began  to  fear  the  buildings 
would  be  ignited  from  the  flying  sparks  ;  so  I  went  on  shore  to  have 
a  talk  with  them.  All  the  negroes  rushed  up  to  me  like  wild  men. 
Some  wanted  to  shake  hands,  some  to  sell  chickens — "  only  half 
dollar  'piece,  massa  "  ;  some  women  wanted  to  know  if  I  had  "any 
clo'  fo'  wash — only  dollar  dozen,  sah,"  while  the  pickaninnies  were 
turning  somersaults  almost  into  the  fire. 

"  Look  here,"  I  exclaimed,  "  this  won't  do.  You  are  disturb 
ing  the  ladies  at  the  house  with  your  noise,  and  we  can't  sleep  on 
board  the  vessels  with  all  this  howling  going  on." 

"Oh,  de  ladies  don't  mine  de  noise,  Massa  Capen ;  dis  is  our 
night  (Saturday),  when  de  work  all  done,"  said  a  dozen  voices,  "an' 
we  want  to  ax  you,  sah,  if  you  won't  go  coon-huntin'  ?  " 

"No,  I  thank  you,"  said  I;  "but  I'll  tell  you  what  I  would 
like  :  bring  your  banjos,  and  sing  me  a  plantation  song." 

No  sooner  said  than  done  ;  three  or  four  banjos,  together  with 
bones  and  other  accompaniments,  were  produced.  I  knew  if  I 
could  get  the  party  to  singing  they  would  quiet  down  in  a  short 
time,  music  has  such  an  effect  on  them. 

I  sent  for  the  ship's  bugler,  and  told  him  to  stand  by  to  play 
"  Home,  Sweet  Home "  when  I  gave  the  order,  the  negroes  all 
this  time  keeping  up  a  great  chattering,  and  seeming  unable  to 
agree  upon  a  programme,  until  a  venerable  darkey,  in  a  voice  of 
authority,  sang  out,  "  Look  hyar,  you  niggers  !  don'  make  fools 
of  yerse'fs,  an'  make  dese  gentlemen  tink  yer  got  no  more  manners 


UNCLE  MOSES  AND  A  NEGRO  MELODY.  89 

'an  a  groun'  hog  ! "  at  which  speech  the  negroes  all  yelled,  ' '  Bully 
fer  you,  Uncle  Moses  ! " 

At  that  moment  the  bugler  struck  up  "Home,  Sweet  Home," 
and  you  might  have  heard  a  pin  drop.  The  only  music  these  sim 
ple-minded  darkies  had  probably  ever  heard  was  that  of  the  banjo. 
They  sat  on  the  ground,  eyes  and  mouth  wide  open,  while  old 
Moses  held  up  his  finger,  as  if  to  enforce  silence. 

The  bugler  played  until  he  was  tired,  when  an  unusually  soft 
"Ah! "came  from  the  crowd;  the  ladies  on  the  porch  clapped 
their  hands. 

"Now,  bucks,"  exclaimed  Uncle  Moses,  "dat's  wot  I  calls 
music ;  better  you  all  shut  up  shop  and  put  yer  ole  banjos  on  de 
fire  dar ;  yer  can't  come  nothin'  like  dat  ober  us.  Yer  mere  infan's, 
I  done  tell  yer." 

"Uncle  Moses,"  said  I,  "don't  discourage  the  boys.  That 
bugle  music  is  a  signal  for  all  the  sailors  to  go  to  bed  and  get  some 
rest,  for  they  must  work  hard  to-morrow.  They  want  to  hear  you 
sing  '  Mary  Blane,'  and  after  that  you  must  all  go  home  and  keep 
quiet." 

"  Dat's  de  kine  ob  talk  dey  wants,  Massa  Capen,"  said  old  Moses. 
"  Now,  bucks,  sit  down  and  open  yer  music-boxes,  an'  grease  de  cog 
wheels  afore  yer  begin." 

A  hundred  voices,  men  and  women,  now  joined  in  and  sang  the 
negro  melody  in  glorious  fashion.  It  was  the  music  of  nature 
given  by  these  untaught  negroes.  "  Mary  Blane  "  rang  in  my  ears 
long  afterward,  and  I  could  not  sleep  for  thinking  of  it. 

After  the  negroes  had  finished  their  song  I  said  to  Uncle 
Moses,  "  I  have  heard  music  in  the  best  opera-houses  in  the  world, 
but  I  never  heard  anything  better  than  that." 

"Fo'  de  Lawd,  you  done  spoil  dem  niggers,  Massa  Capen,"  said 
old  Moses.  "Dey  was  wain  enufE  befo,'  an'  now  dey'll  be  greasin' 
each  other's  faces  an'  usin'  'em  for  lookin'-glasses  to  see  how  pretty 
dey  is." 

"Moses,"  said  I,  "you  seem  to  have  great  control  over  these 
people.  Are  you  going  to  lead  them  out  of  captivity  as  your  name 
sake  of  the  Bible  led  the  Israelites  out  of  bondage  ?  " 

"Well,  Massa  Capen,"  replied  the  old  negro,  "dese  ere  niggers 
is  like  de  Israelites  ob  ole  in  many  respecs.  If  dere  is  a  chicken  on 
a  roost  anywhere  in  de  country  dey  will  fine  'em  out,  an'  dey  is  a 
stiff-neck  people,  dat  goes  wrong  nine  times  to  one  time  right. 
Dey  is  a  great  trouble  to  me,  sar.  Dey  talks  about  fightin'  for  de 


90     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

Unyum  an'  Massa  Abe  Linkum,  an'  dey  knows  as  much  'bout  fi'tin' 
as  a  mule  knows  about  playin'  de  banjo.  Dey  is  just  fit  to  fight 
coons  an'  'possums,  but  if  dey  was  to  meet  a  sojer  wid  a  musket  dar 
shirt-tails  would  shiver  in  de  wind  wid  de  speed  dey'd  make.  Dey 
don't  know  what  dey  want,  an',  like  de  Israelites  ob  ole,  dey  is  tryin' 
all  kind  ob  speriments.  I  wish  you'd  talk  to  'em,  Massa  Capen, 
and  splain  to  'em  what  dey  ought  to  do.  You  know,  sar,  what  one 
ob  de  poeks  say ;  I  hear  ole  massa  often  tellin'  it :  '  Better  bear  wid 
a  ole  coat  ef  it  is  full  ob  holes  dan  go  roun'  in  your  shirt-sleebes  in 
winter-time  lookin'  for  a  new  one.'  When  you  kin  get  a  dish  ob  hog 
an'  hominy  fer  dinner,  better  not  leab  it  to  look  for  somethin'  bet 
ter.  Dat's  wot  I  calls  filosophy." 

"Uncle  Moses,"  said  I,  "you  are  wise  beyond  your  generation. 
But  tell  me  something  about  your  mistress." 

"  Well,  sar,"  said  Uncle  Moses,  "  she  is  a  uncommon  agreeable 
pusson,  though  sometimes  a  leetle  aggravatin'.  She  likes  to  hab 
her  own  way,  an'  as  I  hab  charge  ob  all  dese  bucks,  I  likes  to  hab 
mine  ;  so  occasionally  we  has  disputes." 

"  Dispute  with  your  mistress  !  why,  she  has  a  right  to  her  own 
way,  and  you  should  see  that  she  has  it,"  I  said. 

"  Sartin,  sar,  so  I  do  ;  but  yesterday  missus  was  real  aggrayatin'. 
She  say  dar  was  a  hole  in  de  fence,  an'  I  say  dar  was  a  hole  in  de 
fence,  an'  we  'sputed  about  it  mor'n  a  hour." 

"Why,  Uncle  Moses,"  said  I,  "that  was  a  silly  thing  to  dispute 
about." 

"  P'r'aps  so,  Massa  Capen,  but  it  ain't  no  more  silly  dan  what 
you  gemplems  ob  de  Norf  an'  gemplems  ob  de  Souf  been  a  doin'. 
De  Souf  say  dar  was  a  hole  in  de  fence,  an'  de  Norf  say  dere  was  a 
hole  in  de  fence,  an'  after  'sputin'  about  it  a  long  time,  now  dey  go 
to  shootin'  about  it." 

" Uncle  Moses,"  said  I,  "you  don't  understand  it.  We  are  dis 
puting  about  the  great  principles  of  universal  liberty." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  philosopher,  "I  knows  dat.  I  hear  'em  talkin' 
a  great  deal  about  de  niggers  will  have  suffrins  at  de  poles  fo'  long, 
but  I  seen  enough  nigger  suffrins,  an'  don't  want  to  see  no  more  of 
'em." 

"Why,  Uncle  Moses,  you  talk  doubtfully,  and  I  am  really  afraid 
you  are  not  sound  on  the  goose." 

"Yes,  I  know,  Massa  Capen,  dey  calls  me  doubtin'  Moses,  an' 
I  hab  my  own  'pinions.  If  I  had  my  way  I'd  be  on  de  Canada  side  : 
de  colored  man  is  safe  dar,  an'  no  mistake.  As  to  de  equality  ob  de 


THE  MISTRESS  OF  THE   PLANTATION.  91 

races  I  hear  'em  talk  about,  why,  some  ob  our  bucks  run  away  an' 
'listed  board  a  gun-boat,  an'  spected  to  be  treated  just  like  white 
men.  Dey  put  dose  bucks  to  shubbel  coal  an*  workin'  before  a  hot 
fire,  an'  didn't  eben  gib  um  good  hog  an'  hominy." 

"Oh,"  said  I,  "that's  only  a  beginning.  They'll  do  better  by 
and  by." 

"  An'  in  de  mean  time,"  said  Moses,  "dey  is  to  be  purified  wid 
fire  an'  water.  Some  ob  dem  fellers  from  Massa  Linkum's  gun 
boats  tells  de  bucks  if  dey  sabe  de  Unyum  dey'll  come  out  some  day 
in  Congress.  Yes,  I  knows,  but  dey'll  be  brushin'  de  white  man's 
coats  de  same  as  dey  been  doin'  all  dere  lives.  "White  man  an'  col 
ored  man  two  different  tings ;  one  eat  turkey  an'  de  odder  hog 
an'  hominy  all  he  bo'n  days.  Ole  massa  was  de  fust  ob  our  family 
what  went  to  de  war,  an'  he  fout  de  enemy  to  de  las',  but  a  rifle 
kill  him." 

"A  rifle,  Uncle  Moses  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Yes,  sah,"  said  Moses,  "a  demijohn  ob  rifle  w'isky  what  was 
made  on  dis  place.  Ole  massa  taught  me  a  good  deal ;  he  was  a 
poeck,  he  was." 

We  now  walked  toward  the  house.  Uncle  Moses  stepped  to  the 
door  and  announced  me. 

I  heard  a  pleasant  voice  say,  "Ask  the  gentleman  in,  Moses," 
and  I  entered. 

Before  me  was  a  stately  lady  of  perhaps  forty  years  of  age,  still 
handsome,  with  large  black  eyes  and  dark  hair. 

I  excused  myself  for  intruding  upon  her  so  late  in  the  evening, 
but  explained  that  I  could  not  call  earlier  on  account  of  having  so 
much  to  attend  to  on  board  the  vessels. 

"You  are  excusable,  sir,"  said  Mrs. ,  "and  I  am  glad  you 

have  come,  that  I  might  thank  you  for  the  precautions  you  have 
taken  to  prevent  marauding.  My  servants  have  not  been  so  orderly 
before  for  a  long  time.  They  are  out  coon-hunting  sometimes  un 
til  nearly  daylight  in  the  morning,  and  their  cries  keep  the  family 
awake  half  the  night.  They  are  not  a  bad  set  of  people  though, 
and,  if  they  had  a  master,  could  be  easily  managed,  but  a  woman,  of 
course,  can  do  little  to  control  them.  Moses  is  seventy  years  old, 
and  is  not  of  much  use  now  in  helping  govern  the  negroes,  and  he 
is  for  ever  disputing  with  me  about  trifles." 

At  that  moment  a  door  opened,  and  a  youth  of  about  nineteen 
rushed  into  the  room  in  a  great  state  of  excitement. 

"Mother!"  he  exclaimed,   "I  am  too  late;  they  have  sur- 


92     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

rounded  the  house,  and  I  can't  get  back.  I  shall  be  taken  pris 
oner." 

Just  then  he  caught  sight  of  me,  and  stood  at  bay.  He  was  a 
handsome  fellow,  with  a  strong  likeness  to  his  mother,  and  had  on 
a  gray  suit,  which  was  nearly  concealed  by  a  linen  duster. 

"What  do  you  want  here,  sir,"  said  the  youth,  defiantly ;  "why 
intrude  upon  unprotected  women  ?  " 

"They  are  certainly  not  unprotected,"  I  said,  "with  such  a 
brave  defender  as  you  by  their  side.  I  simply  called  to  pay  my  re 
spects  to  the  lady  of  the  mansion,  and  to  thank  her  for  permission 
to  land  at  her  plantation." 

"Which  you  took  good  care  to  do  before  asking  permission," 
said  the  young  man,  with  flashing  eyes. 

"  George  !  George  ! "  exclaimed  his  mother,  "  this  gentleman  has 
done  nothing  that  we  can  possibly  find  fault  with,  so  be  careful 
what  you  say.  He  may  relieve  you  from  your  difficulty." 

The  boy  still  stood  defiant,  like  a  stag  at  bay,  his  hands  clenched 
and  his  eye  glittering  with  anger. 

"Of  course,  dear  mother,"  he  said,  "I  don't  intend  to  be  dis 
courteous  to  this  officer,  who,  notwithstanding  his  bland  manners, 
has  surrounded  the  house  and  holds  us  all  prisoners.  If  I  had  our 
battery  here  we'd  clear  the  Yanks  out  in  ten  minutes." 

"0  George!"  pleaded  his  mother,  "you  will  ruin  yourself 
and  break  my  heart.  Excuse  me,  sir,  but  he  is  my  only  son." 

"  Who  is  perfectly  safe  with  me,  madam,  for  I  assure  you  I  have 
not  the  least  idea  of  molesting  him. " 

"  Then  let  me  pass  through  your  lines,"  said  the  young  man  ; 
"prove  your  expressions  true  by  your  acts.  I  must  go  or  be  dis 
honored." 

Just  then  a  young  girl  entered  the  room.  She  looked  like  a 
panther  about  to  spring.  "They  are  not  going  to  take  George, 
mother  !  What  does  this  mean  ?  "  she  said,  and  her  eyes  flashed  fire. 

There  was  no  need  to  ask  if  these  young  people  were  brother  and 
sister,  their  likeness  to  each  other  was  so  striking.  I  looked  at 
them  in  admiration,  and  could  not  help  wishing  myself  the  young 
lady's  brother,  to  call  forth  such  affection  from  such  a  lovely  speci 
men  of  womanhood. 

"There  is  no  occasion  for  alarm,  young  lady,"  I  said.  "I  shall 
not  trouble  myself  to  capture  unarmed  persons,  even  although  they 
may  choose  to  wear  a  uniform  which  is  not  the  most  agreeable  to 
Northern  eyes." 


A  YOUNG  CONFEDERATE.  93 

"It  is  the  uniform  of  my  country,"  said  the  young  man,  "and 
I  am  not  ashamed  of  it. " 

"Then,"  I  said,  "if  you  wish  to  honor  it — and  belong,  as  pos 
sibly  you  may,  to  '"Whistler's  Battery,'  now  some  twenty  miles 
above  here — let  me  advise  you  never  to  sully  your  honor  by  firing 
at  unarmed  steamers  ;  war  is  a  dreadful  thing  at  best — make  it  as 
merciful  as  you  can.  For  my  part,  I  shall  endeavor  while  this  con 
flict  lasts  not  to  molest  persons  who  may  be  apparently  following 
peaceful  pursuits.  Vindictive  warfare  can  only  result  in  embitter 
ing  people.  If  you  know  of  any  persons  who  are  about  to  engage 
in  hostilities  against  my  command,  say  to  them  that  when  I  leave 
this  landing  I  shall  tow  the  schooners  in  line  ahead.  The  schoon 
ers  carry  thirty-eight  heavy  guns,  and  the  steamers  that  tow  them 
forty-two.  To  attack  them  with  field-pieces  would  be  a  piece  of 
gasconade,  for  I  could  sweep  a  dozen  batteries  from  off  the  earth, 
and  our  shells  might  set  fire  to  distant  houses  whose  inmates  had 
no  idea  of  injuring  us.  And  now,  sir,  for  your  mother's  and  sister's 
sake  you  may  take  your  horse  and  go." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  the  youngster,  "my  hand  will  fire  no  shot  at 
you  or  yours,  and  I  will  report  what  you  have  said." 

I  raised  the  window  and  signaled  to  the  patrol.  "  Let  this  gen 
tleman  pass  with  his  horse. — Good-night,  sir,  and  a  pleasant  jour 
ney  to  you." 

The  young  man  took  leave  of  his  mother  and  sister,  bowed  to 
me,  and  in  a  few  minutes  his  horse's  hoofs  were  heard  as  he  galloped 
down  the  road. 

The  mother  thanked  me  for  permitting  her  son  to  depart. 

"  I  could  have  done  you  a  greater  favor  by  sending  him  north 
as  a  prisoner,"  I  replied  ;  "it  might  have  saved  his  life  ;  he  is  too 
young  for  such  adventures." 

I  bade  the  ladies  good-night,  hoping  I  had  at  least  planted  one 
seed  toward  reconciliation. 

Next  morning  Moses  and  his  "  bucks  "  were  at  the  levee  to  see 
us  off.  "Keep  your  bucks  in  order,  Moses,"  I  said.  "I  shall  be 
back  here  soon,  and,  if  I  find  they  haven't  behaved  themselves,  will 
set  them  to  shoveling  coal." 

"Ah,  Massa  Capen,"  said  the  philosopher,  "I  kin  punish  'em 
worse  dan  dat.  I  stops  dar  bacon  an'  hominy  an'  terbacker.  If 
dese  niggers  don't  behave  themselves,  they  shan't  see  de  sight  ob  a 
chicken,  an'  if  dere's  anyt'ing  a  nigger  do  lub,  it's  de  sight  ob  a 
chicken  on  de  roost." 


94:      INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

"And  don't  dispute  with  your  mistress  any  more,  Uncle  Moses." 

"Well,  sar,"  lie  replied,  "we  done  had  a  'spute  already  dis 
mornin'.  I  said  you  was  a  Unyum  ossifer,  an'  she  say  you  was  a 
Unyum  ossifer,  an*  we  'spute  about  it  ober  a  hour.  God  bless  you, 
Massa  Capen,  an'  see  dat  dey  don'  gib  us  po'  niggers  any  more  suf- 
frins  at  de  poles." 

We  were  not  molested  in  our  progress  up  the  river,  and  in  due 
time  reached  Vicksburg,  where  Farragut  was  awaiting  us  to  com 
mence  operations  against  the  forts. 

I  will  here  mention  that  the  young  fellow  to  whom  I  have  al 
luded  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Mansfield,  on  Red  River,  when 
General  Banks  and  myself  went  up  that  stream  in  the  spring  of 
1864.  On  a  subsequent  visit  to  the  plantation  I  found  the  mother 
and  sister  plunged  in  grief.  This  was  only  one  of  many  instances 
where  young  lives  were  thrown  away  in  a  hopeless  cause. 

Uncle  Moses  had  proved  true  to  his  trust,  but  all  his  young 
"bucks"  had  gone  on  the  warpath,  joining  the  army  as  teamsters  or 
enlisting  on  board  "Mr.  Linkum's  gun-boats." 

"Massa  Capen,"  said  Moses,"  the  Unyum  Gub'ment  done  make 
all  de  black  folks  contraban' ;  now,  sar,  what's  dat  ?" 

"  Why,  Moses,"  said  I,  "  that's  putting  a  high  tariff  on  you  to 
protect  you  against  foreign  darkies.  Contraband  articles  are  those 
which  are  almost  prohibited,  and  the  Government  claims  the  right 
to  take  you  into  service  as  contraband  of  war,  so  that  the  enemy 
can  not  use  you  to  work  for  them  and  against  us." 

"  Bress  de  Laud  ! "  exclaimed  the  old  man,  "  niggers  is  some 
consequence.  I  hope  to  see  de  Norf  yet  afore  I  die.  Ya !  ya  !  ya  ! 
I'll  make  all  dem  bucks  'dress  me  now  as  Mister  Contraban'  Moses. 
Good-by,  Massa  Capen  ;  I's  mos'  sorry  de  war  so  nigh  ober,  cos  I's 
'fraid  de  niggers  won't  be  no  more  consekence.  Hope  to  see  yer  in 
Congeress  some  ob  dese  days,  do'  dis  ole  darkey  may  be  brushin* 
close  and  shinin'  Norfern  an'  Suffern  gemplemen's  boots." 


AFTER   THE   CAPTURE   OF   NEW   ORLEANS.  95 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PLANS  FOB  THE  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG — UNFORTUNATE  DE 
LAYS—THE  MORTAR  BOATS  AT  YICKSBURG — A  SPY  AND  AN 
ATTEMPTED  SURPRISE. 

AT  the  time  I  made  the  proposition  for  the  capture  of  New  Or 
leans,  which  also  included  the  capture  of  Vicksburg,  President  Lin 
coln  left  it  to  General  McClellan  and  myself  to  arrange  the  plans. 
The  general  considered  that  ten  thousand  troops  were  sufficient  to 
hold  the  city  after  the  navy  had  captured  it,  and  that  an  additional 
ten  thousand  could  be  landed  at  Vicksburg  under  the  guns  of  the 
navy,  and  hold  that  place  against  any  force  the  Confederates  could 
bring  against  it. 

Had  this  plan  been  carried  out,  the  result  would  have  been  the 
grandest  achievement  of  the  war,  and  we  would  have  accomplished, 
with  comparatively  little  loss  of  life,  what  eventually  cost  a  great 
deal  of  bloodshed  and  a  vast  outlay  of  money. 

When  New  Orleans  fell,  the  people  all  along  the  Mississippi  were 
astounded,  for  such  a  contingency  had  never  entered  into  their  cal 
culations.  They  considered  the  forts,  Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  im 
pregnable,  and  the  rams  and  ironclads  quite  sufficient  to  destroy  the 
entire  Union  navy. 

In  consequence  of  this  feeling  of  security  the  large  towns  above 
New  Orleans  were  unfortified  and  Vicksburg  had  very  few  guns 
mounted.  If,  then,  the  victory  at  New  Orleans  had  been  followed 
up  rapidly  by  ships  and  soldiers  sent  to  Vicksburg,  the  latter  place 
would  have  fallen  easily  into  our  possession. 

It  is  not  my  intention  here  to  give  a  history  of  the  war.  I  have 
written  a  full  account  of  all  the  events  that  came  under  my  cog 
nizance  during  the  conflict,  which  may  or  may  not  be  published  at 
some  future  time,  but  I  can  not  help  recalling  President  Lincoln's 
words  as  we  were  planning  this  expedition. 

"See,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  pointing  to  the  map,  "what  a  lot  of 
land  these  fellows  hold,  of  which  Vicksburg  is  the  key.  Here  is 
Ked  River,  which  will  supply  the  Confederates  with  cattle  and  corn 
to  feed  their  armies.  There  are  the  Arkansas  and  White  Rivers, 
which  can  supply  cattle  and  hogs  by  the  thousand.  From  Vicks 
burg  these  supplies  can  be  distributed  by  rail  all  over  the  Confed- 


96     INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

eracy.  Then  there  is  that  great  depot  of  supplies  on  the  Yazoo. 
Let  us  get  Vicksburg  and  all  that  country  is  ours.  The  war  can 
never  be  brought  to  a  close  until  that  key  is  in  our  pocket.  I  am 
acquainted  with  that  region  and  know  what  I  am  talking  about, 
and,  valuable  as  New  Orleans  will  be  to  us,  Vicksburg  will  be  more 
so.  We  may  take  all  the  northern  ports  of  the  Confederacy,  and 
they  can  still  defy  us  from  Vicksburg.  It  means  hog  and  hominy 
without  limit,  fresh  troops  from  all  the  States  of  the  far  South,  and 
a  cotton  country  where  they  can  raise  the  staple  without  interfer 
ence." 

Mr.  Lincoln's  capacious  mind  took  in  the  whole  subject,  and  he 
made  it  plain  to  the  dullest  comprehension.  A  military  expert 
could  not  have  more  clearly  defined  the  advantages  of  the  proposed 
campaign. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was,  in  fact,  the  one  who,  after  the  thing  had  been 
proposed  to  him,  was  most  active  in  urging  it  on.  Everybody  who 
knew  anything  about  the  strength  of  the  forts  was  called  in,  includ 
ing  General  Barnard.  The  President  would  come  in  while  McClel- 
lan  and  myself  were  discussing  the  matter  and  have  his  say,  and 
there  was  wisdom  in  all  his  suggestions. 

Carefully  as  the  project  of  capturing  Vicksburg  was  planned,  it 
was  not  executed.  Why,  I  do  not  know.  I  presume  Farragut  de 
layed  his  advance  from  New  Orleans  until  he  could  secure  the  neces 
sary  troops  to  hold  Vicksburg.  I  urged  pushing  on  to  Vicksburg, 
instead  of  which  I  was  pushed  on  to  Ship  Island,  a  delightful  retreat 
where  General  Butler  used  to  send  rebellious  women  who  hooted  at 
the  Union  flag. 

It  was  at  least  a  month  after  my  arrival  at  Ship  Island  when  I 
received  a  letter  from  General  Butler,  informing  me  that  Farragut 
had  gone  to  Vicksburg  with  his  fleet  and  wanted  the  mortar  flotilla 
there  to  bombard  the  forts.  So  it  appears  that  in  the  short  inter 
val  between  our  taking  New  Orleans  and  getting  to  Vicksburg  the 
Confederates  had  erected  heavy  batteries  at  the  latter  point,  sending 
all  the  way  to  Richmond  and  Norfolk  for  guns  and  munitions  of 
war. 

I  presume  that  when  Farragut  found  he  could  not  get  the 
troops  he  required  to  hold  Vicksburg,  he  sent  a  detachment  of  ves 
sels  up  to  demand  its  surrender.  The  officer  in  command  opened 
negotiations  with  the  Mayor,  who  was  courtesy  itself,  while  devis 
ing  ways  and  means  by  which  to  protract  the  conference. 

The  officer  sent  to  confer  with  him  was  no  match  for  the  Mayor 


THE  DEFENSES  OF  VICKSBURG.         .  97 

in  diplomacy,  and,  after  a  week's  negotiation  and  exchange  of  cour 
tesies,  the  latter  gentleman  informed  the  officer  that  if  he  wanted 
Vicksburg  he  must  come  and  take  it,  and,  as  the  Union  flag  was 
offensive  to  the  citizens,  he  (the  Mayor)  must  insist  on  its  being 
withdrawn,  otherwise  it  would  be  fired  upon. 

While  this  "pow-wow"  was  going  on,  the  whole  power  of  the 
Confederacy  was  put  in  operation  to  save  Vicksburg.  Guns  were 
brought  from  Jackson  and  masked  batteries  erected  during  the 
night,  and  the  heaviest  ordnance  the  Confederates  had  was  hurried 
from  Richmond  by  rail.  Not  an  hour  was  lost,  and  by  the  time 
the  officer  had  returned  to  Farragut  with  the  Mayor's  defiant 
speech,  Vicksburg  was  transformed  into  a  small  Gibraltar. 

President  Lincoln  must  have  been  vexed  when  he  found  that  he 
had  lost  the  key  to  the  situation,  and  that  "the  backbone  of  the  re 
bellion  "  would  not  be  broken  for  some  time. 

When  Farragut  heard  how  matters  stood  he  started  at  once  with 
his  whole  force  to  try  and  carry  out  the  designs  of  the  Government 
on  Vicksburg,  but  he  found  a  difficult  task  before  him.  The  sum 
mit  of  the  heights  at  Vicksburg,  two  hundred  and  eighty  feet 
above  the  river,  had  been  strongly  fortified  with  heavy  rifled  guns, 
which  his  old-fashioned  smooth-bores  could  not  reach,  and  should 
he  attempt  to  pass  the  batteries  or  bombard  them,  the  chances  were 
his  ships  would  be  destroyed.  He  had  no  force  to  land  and  take  the 
place,  for  the  Confederate  army  at  Vicksburg  was  estimated  at  ten 
thousand  men,  who  had  been  hurried  thither  from  every  quarter 
where  they  could  be  spared. 

Every  day  the  rebels  would  mount  additional  heavy  guns  on  the 
heights,  and  they  built  a  water-battery  of  twelve  heavy  guns  about 
half  a  mile  from  the  levee,  called  by  our  sailors  "The  Twelve 
Apostles."  The  heaviest  gun  they  called  "St.  Paul  the  great 
X-pounder,"  i.  e.,  X-inch  rifle. 

Farragut  could  not  bombard  the  forts  on  the  heights  with  his 
ships,  nor  could  he  land,  and  he  was  too  humane  to  shell  the  city, 
so  he  sent  all  the  way  to  Ship  Island  for  the  mortar  flotilla. 

When  the  flotilla  arrived  it  could  reach  the  forts  on  the  hill 
tops  and  silence  their  fire,  but  the  enemy's  gunners  would  run  to 
their  bomb-proofs  when  they  saw  a  shell  coming,  and,  as  soon  as  it 
burst,  would  fly  to  their  guns  again.  This  kind  of  warfare  was 
kept  up  for  several  days,  no  one  being  hurt  so  far  as  I  know  on  the 
Confederate  side,  but  a  great  deal  of  ammunition  was  expended  on 
both  sides.  The  "key"  that  President  Lincoln  desired  so  much 
7 


98      INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

remained  in  the  rebel  pocket,  and  it  cost  millions  of  dollars  and 
many  lives  to  get  it  out. 

After  a  heavy  day's  hammering  of  the  forts  by  the  mortars, 
Farragut  passed  the  batteries  with  his  ships  and  carried  out  his 
orders  to  make  a  junction  with  Flag-Officer  Davis  above  Vicksburg ; 
but,  although  he  could  pass  and  repass  the  batteries,  he  saw  that  it 
was  useless  to  sacrifice  the  lives  of  his  officers  and  men  merely  for 
sentiment's  sake,  so  he  notified  the  Navy  Department  that  he  could 
do  no  more. 

I  found  a  great  difference  between  bombarding  a  fort  of  ma 
sonry  and  a  chain  of  earthworks  that  could  have  defied  ten  times 
our  force,  and  I  soon  made  up  my  mind  that  the  "key"  would  not 
be  forthcoming  this  time. 

The  mortar  vessels  were  anchored  close  to  the  levee,  ten  of  them 
only  twenty-two  hundred  yards  from  the  enemy's  works,  but  con 
cealed  behind  a  thick  wood.  The  other  eight  vessels  were  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  twenty-seven  hundred  yards  from  the 
forts,  and  were  fair  targets  for  the  enemy,  yet  none  of  their  hulls 
were  touched,  though  hundreds  of  shot  and  shell  whistled  over 
them. 

Finding  that  they  could  do  the  mortar  vessels  no  harm,  and 
that  they  were  injuring  their  guns  and  wasting  their  ammunition, 
the  enemy  determined  to  try  and  capture  the  flotilla  with  a  land 
force,  but,  as  I  had  calculated  on  this,  I  was  duly  prepared  for  it. 

On  the  Vicksburg  side  of  the  river  were  ten  mortar  vessels  tied 
to  the  bank,  with  a  space  of  ten  feet  between  them  and  the  levee. 
Six  steamers  were  anchored  on  the  port  quarter  of  the  schooners, 
and  two  others  were  in  line  ahead,  all  with  broadsides  bearing  on 
the  thick  wood  which  covered  the  flotilla.  In  the  middle  of  this 
wood  were  almost  impassable  swamps,  which  formed  a  perfect  pro 
tection  against  an  advance  of  troops  from  that  direction.  On  the 
edge  of  the  swamps  pits  had  been  dug  five  feet  deep,  and  from 
these  pits  lines  were  extended  to  a  bell  mounted  on  shore,  which 
was  to  be  struck  by  men  stationed  in  the  pits  once  or  twice,  accord 
ing  to  circumstances. 

I  was  one  day  on  shore  looking  at  the  defenses  against  a  land 
attack,  when  a  negro  emerged  from  the  woods,  saw  me,  and  ap 
peared  to  hesitate  whether  he  should  advance,  but,  while  thus  un 
decided,  two  patrolmen  slipped  up  behind  him  and  marched  him  in. 

He  was  a  sleek-looking  darkey,  clad  in  a  good  suit  of  clothes  of 
a  scholastic  cut — an  entirely  different  st}^le  of  negro  from  old  Uncle 


A  SUSPICIOUS  NEGRO  PREACHER.  99 

Moses,  the  patriarch  of  " 's  Landing."  In  fact,  this  person's 

appearance  was  not  prepossessing. 

When  I  asked  him  what  he  was  doing,  he  answered,  "  I'm  a 
contraban',  sar,  makin'  my  escape  to  the  Ian'  ob  freedom.  My 
name  is  Brutus  Munroe.  I'm  a  pastor,  sar." 

"  And,  pray,  to  what  denomination  do  you  belong  ?  "  I  inquired. 

" Sar,"  he  replied,  "I'm  a  anarkist  an'  orthodox  up  to  de  hub.3' 

"  An  anarkist  ?    And,  pray,  what  is  that  ?  "  said  I. 

"Well,  sar,"  said  the  preacher,  "I  believes  all  about  de  ark  an' 
de  animiles  wot  went  in,  an'  I  preaches  dat  doctrine  to  my  people. 
I  preaches  de  millanium  to  my  people,  sar,  an'  tells  dem  de  time 
am  comin'  when  de  lion  an*  de  lam'  will  lie  down  togedder." 

"I  suppose,  Mr.  Munroe,"  said  I,  "that  when  that  happy  day 
arrives  the  lion  will  lie  down  with  the  lamb  inside  of  him." 

"Mebbe  so,  sar,"  answered  the  sleek  preacher  ;  "an'  if  de  lam' 
fines  a  comfortable  bed  dar  I  don'  see  why  he  should  objec'.  We  is 
all  ob  us  lam's  or  lions ;  human  natur'  is  eberywhar  de  same,  an' 
de  big  critters  eats  up  de  little  ones." 

"Well,  now,  tell  me,"  said  I  to  the  preacher,  "how  many 
troops  have  the  Confederates  in  Vicksburg." 

"'Bout  a  hunder  tousand,  sar,"  he  answered,  promptly. 

"And  how  many  guns  mounted  ?" 

"'Bout  a  hunder  fifty,  sar,  an'  trains  comin'  in  wid  'em  all  de 
time." 

"  Then  there  is  no  chance  for  us  to  take  the  place,  is  there  ?" 
said  I. 

"  Oh,  no,  sar  ! "  exclaimed  the  preacher  ;  "  a  milyon  men  couldn't 
took  it,  it's  so  strong,  sar." 

I  saw  that  I  had  got  hold  of  a  first-class  romancer,  and  that  it 
wouldn't  do  to  depend  on  Brutus's  statements. 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "you  say  you  are  a  Union  man  ?" 

"Yes,  sar,  I  prays  fo'  de  President  an'  all  oders  in  autority  ebery 
Sunday  befo'  my  people." 

"  But  which  President  do  you  pray  for  ?" 

"I  prays  for  'em  bof,  sar — Massa  Linkum  an'  Massa  Davis — for 
dey  bof  stans  in  need  ob  prayer." 

"But,  Brutus,"  said  I,  "what  side  are  you  on  ?" 

"Well,  sar,"  he  answered,  "I  am  just  now  on  de  Lawd's  side  ; 
but,  Massa  Captin,  I  see  you  done  makin'  prep'rations  to  go  'way. 
You  ain't  out  ob  powder,  is  you  ?  " 

"No,  Brutus,"  said  I,  "we  are  going  to  stay  here  till  the  mel- 


100    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

lenium  and  blow  all  these  hills  down.  We  won't  leave  a  mouse  in 
Vicksburg." 

"  Den  dat's  wy  you  is  trowin'  up  dem  intrenchmen's.  You  is 
guardin'  'gainst  precautions." 

All  the  time  Mr.  Munroe  was  talking  his  eyes  were  wandering 
in  every  direction.  At  length  I  said  to  him,  "  How  do  you  like 
the  looks  of  things  ?  Do  you  think  you  can  remember  it  all  ?  " 

The  preacher  started  ;  doubtless  he  would  have  turned  pale  if 
he  had  not  been  so  very  black. 

"  Ise  got  a  werry  bad  mem'ry,  sar.  I  see  you  is  busy,  an'  I 
mought  as  well  be  goin',"  and  he  started  off. 

"  Stop  ! "  said  I ;  " you  must  stay  and  dine  with  me." 

"  No,  tank  you,  sar,"  said  Brutus.  "  I  mus'  go  to  Warrenton, 
whar  I  hole  a  convention  wid  a  pastor  of  an  odder  diocese.  I'll 
call  anodder  time,  an'll  see  you  offen  if  you  stops  here  till  de  mil- 
lanium." 

I  beckoned  the  two  patrolmen  who  had  brought  Mr.  Brutus  to 
the  levee.  They  immediately  took  charge  of  that  worthy  and  pre 
pared  to  march  him  away. 

"In  God's  name,  sar,"  exclaimed  Brutus,  who  trembled  like  a 
leaf,  "  wha'  yer  gwine  ter  do  ter  me  ?  " 

"  Nothing  except  shoot  you  as  a  spy,  Mr.  Brutus." 

I  directed  that  the  preacher  should  be  carefully  searched  and 
then  confined  on  the  berth-deck  of  one  of  the  schooners,  with  a 
sentry  over  him.  I  was  satisfied  that  the  negro  was  a  spy,  since 
the  Confederate  lines  were  drawn  so  close  that  no  contraband  could 
pass  them  without  their  connivance.  It  was  not  often  that  the 
colored  men  acted  as  spies,  but  this  was  evidently  an  instance  of  it. 

One  of  the  officers  devised  a  scheme  to  draw  the  rascal  out.  He 
selected  the  most  intelligent  negro  from  among  our  "contrabands," 
and,  after  instructing  him  in  the  part  he  was  to  play,  had  him  con 
veyed  on  board  the  schooner  where  Brutus  was,  and  tumbled  down 
by  his  side. 

The  new-comer  began  to  weep  and  throw  himself  about,  as  if 
in  great  agony  of  mind,  until  the  preacher  sternly  remarked  to 
him,  "  Don't  yer  make  fool  ob  youse'f  !  Whar  is  yer  from,  any 
how?" 

"  Jist  fo'  mile  below  Warrenton,  sah,"  said  the  pretended  pris 
oner.  "  Wy,  I'm  one  ob  yer  flock  ;  I  hears  yer  preach  offen." 

"Dat's  nat'ral,"  said  the  preacher.  "De  big  magnet  draw  all 
de  little  bits  ob  iron  to  it." 


AN  ATTACK.  101 

"But,  mister,  dey  done  gwine  ter  shoot  me  to-morrow,  an'  den 
wot  good'll  de  magnet  do  me  ?  " 

"  Hush  !  "  said  Brutus  ;  "  shut  yer  mud-hole,  an'  don't  boo-hoo 
so."  And  he  whispered  to  his  companion,  "Ef  dey  don't  shoot  us 
bef o'  f o'  'clock  dis  arternoon,  dey'll  nebber  hab  anodder  chance  ! " 

"Wot  yer  mean  ?"  said  the  other,  drying  his  eyes  ;  but  Brutus 
sat  silent,  not  deigning  to  be  more  explicit. 

At  length  the  colored  detective  was  taken  violently  ill,  and, 
upon  being  carried  on  deck,  related  all  that  had  passed  between 
him  and  the  preacher.  It  was  not  much,  but  I  gathered  that  we 
were  to  be  attacked  about  four  o'clock,  which  was  about  the 
time  we  ceased  firing  the  mortars  each  day,  to  let  the  men  go  to 
supper. 

Preparations  were  made  to  receive  any  number  that  might  assail 
us,  for,  in  spite  of  Brutus,  I  knew  there  could  not  be  more  than 
fifteen  thousand  Confederates  in  and  around  Vicksburg. 

By  two  o'clock  all  was  ready  ;  one  watch  at  the  guns,  the  other 
ready  to  join  in,  every  man  with  a  musket  at  hand,  and  the  mor 
tars  loaded  with  but  half  a  pound  of  powder,  so  as  to  land  the 
shells  just  inside  the  woods.  Then  we  waited. 

About  three  o'clock  there  was  a  tap  on  the  bell,  then  another, 
showing  that  the  enemy  was  advancing  through  the  woods,  and  in 
a  few  moments  about  twenty  men  rushed  from  their  cover  toward 
the  bank,  and  were  received  by  a  volley  of  musketry. 

Four  of  the  enemy,  including  their  leader,  a  sergeant,  fell,  and 
the  rest  took  to  their  heels  when  they  found  we  were  ready  for 
them. 

At  the  same  moment  our  steamers  opened  fire  on  the  woods 
with  shell  and  shrapnel,  and  kept  it  up  for  twenty  minutes  with 
twenty-four  large  broadside  guns,  which  mowed  down  the  trees  as 
the  reaper  mows  down  grain  ! 

All  we  saw  of  the  enemy  was  the  four  men  who  were  killed,  and 
about  a  dozen  others  who  retreated.  I  could  only  conjecture  what 
force  of  the  enemy  was  approaching  under  cover  of  the  woods  ;  but 
the  precautions  taken  had  evidently  prevented  the  loss  of  some  of 
our  men,  although  no  serious  disaster  was  likely  to  befall  us. 

As  soon  as  possible  I  sent  a  reconnoitring  party  into  the  woods, 
and  found  the  two  men  stationed  in  the  pits.  Both  were  safe  in 
their  holes  ;  our  shells  had  exploded  well  away  from  them,  and 
they  had  been  in  no  danger.  But  beyond  them  it  looked  as  if  a 
select  assortment  of  thunderbolts  had  swept  over  the  landscape. 


102  INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Great  trees  were  shattered ;  the  ground  was  furrowed  in  every 
direction,  and  covered  with  splinters  of  all  shapes  and  sizes. 

There  was  no  enemy  in  sight,  but  every  evidence  that  one  had 
been  there  in  the  castaway  knapsacks,  caps,  shoes,  and  muskets ; 
and  in  the  swamp  was  found  a  pair  of  officer's  long  boots,  with  the 
toes  pointing  toward  Vicksburg.  I  don't  blame  the  officer  for 
abandoning  his  boots,  for,  under  the  circumstances,  there  was  no 
other  course  to  pursue. 

The  two  men  in  the  pits  reported  that  some  twenty  men  came 
in  around  the  swamp  to  the  left,  and  headed  for  the  mortar 
schooners.  They  were  followed  by  a  column  of  soldiers,  the  end  of 
which  they  did  not  see.  At  about  the  same  time  another  column 
came  around  the  other  side  of  the  swamp,  and  when  within  two 
hundred  yards  of  the  edge  of  the  woods  the  firing  commenced  with 
musketry,  and  then  the  shells  came  crashing  through  the  forest. 

There  was  a  sudden  halt,  and  then  a  rapid  retreat  across  the 
swamp,  many  of  the  soldiers  up  to  their  middle  in  the  mud  and 
water. 

When  I  looked  at  the  place  I  wondered  how  any  man  in  his 
senses  could  get  up  such  an  expedition.  No  army  could  have  stood 
ten  minutes  before  the  fire  we  opened  on  these  evidently  raw  re 
cruits,  and  no  doubt  their  experience  on  this  occasion  increased 
their  respect  for  "Lincoln's  gun-boats." 

The  Confederates  troubled  us  no  more,  and  I  had  no  idea  of 
wasting  shells  on  those  solid  hill-sides  ;  it  was  different  from  batter 
ing  a  fort  and  shattering  casemates  of  masonry. 

From  the  time  I  arrived  before  Vicksburg  I  had  wondered  what 
had  become  of  the  ubiquitous  iron-clad  ram  which  always  made  its 
appearance  from  some  unexpected  quarter  at  some  unexpected 
time. 

After  I  left  Vicksburg  the  ram  did  come  out  of  the  Yazoo  River, 
at  the  time  when  Flag-Officer  Davis  had  joined  Farragut  with  his 
squadron  from  the  upper  Mississippi. 

The  ram  had  been  generally  considered  a  myth,  for  how  was  it 
possible  for  the  Confederates  to  build  such  a  vessel  in  so  short  a 
time  on  these  inland  waters  ? 

However,  down  she  came  one  fine  morning,  and  passed  un 
scathed  through  the  whole  line  of  our  vessels,  dealing  death  and 
destruction  as  she  passed.  The  ships  poured  broadsides  of  solid 
shot  into  her,  but  they  rolled  from  her  sides  like  water  from  a 
duck's  back.  That  time  the  Confederates  had  the  laugh  on  us, 


PASTOR   BRUTUS   MUNROE.  103 

and,  when  I  heard  of  the  adventure,  I  thought  of  Mr.  Brutus 
Munroe's  sage  remark  about  "guardin'  agin  all  precautions." 

Previous  to  this  episode  of  the  ram  I  was  ordered  by  the  Navy 
Department  to  proceed  north  with  ten  of  the  mortar  vessels  to  bom 
bard  Fort  Darling,  on  the  James  River,  and,  much  to  my  regret,  I 
was  compelled  to  leave  my  comrades  before  Vicksburg,  which  place 
I  was  sure  would  never  be  taken  by  the  means  that  were  then  being 
used. 

Farragut  did  all  that  was  possible  under  the  circumstances,  and 
did  not  leave  until  he  had  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  reduc 
ing  the  place  without  the  aid  of  a  large  army. 

Before  I  left  Vicksburg  I  sought  a  final  interview  with  Pastor 
Brutus  Munroe,  of  the  Anarkist  Church. 

A  week's  close  confinement  had  told  on  Mr.  Munroe,  and  he  did 
not  look  so  sleek  by  a  good  deal. 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  I,  "  what  have  you  to  say  for  yourself  ?  Don't 
you  think  you  deserve  hanging  as  the  biggest  rascal  in  the  coun 
try?" 

"Well,  sar,"  said  Brutus,  "'a  soft  answer  turneff  'way  raff.' 
De  Lawd  temper  de  water  to  de  scalded  hog.  'Pearances  is  agin 
me,  sar,  but  I  is  innocent,  'deed  I  is." 

"What  do  you  say,  then,"  I  inquired,  "about  going  north  in 
this  vessel  and  serving  under  the  Union  flag  ?  " 

Brutus  scratched  his  head.  "But  who's  gwine  to  took  care  ob 
my  flock  wen  dar  pastor  done  gone  to  de  Norf  ?  Dey'll  all  go 
straight  to  de  debbel,  sar  ;,  dey  forgits  in  a  week  all  dat  I'm  a  month 
a  teachin'  'em." 

"Well,  then,  Brutus,"  said  I,  "go  and  sin  no  more,  and  try 
and  keep  your  neck  out  of  the  halter. "  So  I  dismissed  the  preacher, 
who  disappeared  in  the  direction  of  Warrenton,  and  I  never  saw 
him  again. 

After  the  fall  of  Yicksburg,  Colonel  Higgins,  who  had  been  the 
commandant  of  Fort  Jackson,  again  fell  into  our  hands.  He  gave 
me  an  account  of  the  unfortunate  expedition  against  the  mortar 
vessels.  The  Confederates  supposed  that  Brutus  had  betrayed 
them,  and  if  he  had  returned  to  Vicksburg  he  would  most  likely 
have  been  shot.  Receiving,  no  doubt,  some  intimation  of  what  was 
in  store  for  him,  the  worthy  preacher  disappeared  to  parts  unknown. 


104:    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PASSAGE  OF  THE  MORTAR  FLEET  DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER — 
A  REVIEW  AT  NATCHEZ — A  ROSE  IN  THE  DESERT — HONORS  TO 
FARRAGUT  AFTER  HIS  DEATH. 

MY  return  down  the  Mississippi  with  the  ten  mortar  schooners 
in  tow  was  monotonous,  although  we  were  occasionally  enlivened  on 
passing  a  town  by  seeing  people  nocking  to  the  river-bank  to  look 
at  us. 

When  we  passed  up  everything  was  in  mourning  ;  very  few  peo 
ple  showed  themselves,  except  negroes  ;  it  was  as  if  the  white  popu 
lation  had  run  away  and  hidden  themselves.  They  had  been  taught 
that  we  were  a  set  of  buccaneers  who  were  liable  to  commit  any 
atrocities,  and  that  a  policy  of  non-intercourse  with  us  was  most 
advisable.  When  the  people,  however,  saw  so  many  war  vessels 
pass  up  the  river  without  doing  any  injury  to  private  property  or 
to  unarmed  citizens,  they  began  to  think  we  had  been  libeled,  and 
even  to  suspect  we  were  more  to  be  trusted  than  those  who  were 
marking  all  the  products  of  their  industry  "0.  S.  A.,"  and  paying 
for  the  same  in  worthless  Confederate  currency. 

There  were  some  persons,  no  doubt,  who  saw  plainly  enough 
that  the  United  States  Government  would  never  again  allow  the 
control  of  the  Mississippi  River  to  slip  out  of  their  hands,  since  it 
was  so  comparatively  easy  to  hold  it,  with  the  numerous  gun-boats 
at  their  disposal,  in  spite  of  rebel  rams  and  other  appliances  of  the 
enemy. 

One  after  another  the  people  saw  the  heavy  works  deemed  im 
pregnable  by  the  Confederates  fall  into  our  hands,  there  to  remain 
until  the  authority  of  the  Government  should  be  firmly  established 
throughout  the  land.  After  the  capture  of  New  Orleans  it  was  ap 
parent  that  the  power  of  the  South  was  broken,  and  the  people  along 
the  river  were  soon  of  the  same  opinion. 

Vicksburg  alone  blocked  the  way,  but  our  army  and  navy  were 
gradually  encircling  it  in  their  coils,  and  its  capture  was  only  a  mat 
ter  of  time. 

When  we  passed  Natchez,  on  our  way  up  the  river,  every  one 
had  retired  to  their  houses,  not  a  straggler  was  in  sight,  and,  not 
knowing  exactly  what  kind  of  a  reception  we  would  encounter,  we 
stood  to  our  guns. 


PEOPLE  OF   NATCHEZ   NOT   UNFRIENDLY.  105 

Coining  down,  we  gave  ourselves  no  concern  about  hostile  acta 
from  the  towns  below  Vicksburg,  knowing  the  people  were  too  wise 
to  interfere  with  us. 

As  we  approached  Natchez  I  had  the  officers  dress  in  uniform 
and  the  crews  in  white,  while  the  mast-heads  were  decorated  with 
our  best  flags.  Our  decks  were  polished  as  white  as  possible,  and 
everything  about  the  vessels  bore  that  appearance  of  order  and  neat 
ness  which  characterizes  well-disciplined  vessels  of  war. 

As  we  rounded  the  point  and  came  in  sight  of  Natchez,  the 
hills  were  covered  with  men,  women,  and  children,  apparently 
dressed  in  their  best  clothes.  The  white  dresses  and  gay  parasols 
of  the  ladies  against  the  green  background  made  a  charming  pic 
ture.  It  looked  as  if  all  Natchez  had  assembled  to  welcome  victors 
from  a  battle-field. 

As  we  passed  close  in  to  the  shore  many  spy-glasses  were  leveled 
on  us,  and  we  were  so  near  that  we  could  even  see  the  expression 
on  people's  faces.  It  was  rather  of  surprise  than  hostility  as  they 
scanned  the  forms  of  more  than  a  hundred  well-dressed  officers, 
who  would  have  given  a  month's  pay  to  have  had  a  chance  to  dance 
the  lancers  with  these  pretty  rebels. 

From  appearances,  we  judged  that,  should  we  land,  we  would 
receive  a  friendly  welcome,  although,  perhaps,  they  were  all  in  such 
good  humor  because  of  a  telegram  just  received  from  Vicksburg 
announcing  the  fact  that  many  of  the  mortar  vessels  had  been  de 
stroyed  and  the  rest  had  sought  safety  in  flight. 

This  precious  piece  of  news  we  heard  from  an  "intelligent  con 
traband,"  who  boarded  us  in  a  canoe  soon  after  we  passed  Natchez, 
and  he  informed  us  that  the  people  had  assembled  to  witness  our 
discomfiture. 

If,  however,  they  expected  to  see  shot-riddled  hulls,  they  were 
disappointed,  for  not  a  scratch  was  visible  ;  and  the  jolly  sailors, 
standing  in  picturesque  groups,  gave  the  lie  to  the  bombastic  dis 
patch  sent  from  Vicksburg. 

At  the  same  time,  as  we  had  learned  by  experience  not  to  put 
implicit  faith  in  the  statements  of  the  negroes,  we  thought  it  likely 
that  this  one  had  exaggerated  the  matter. 

Whatever  the  people  of  Natchez  may  have  heard,  their  bearing 
toward  us  was  not  unfriendly.  Curiosity  seemed  their  leading  mo 
tive,  and  it  was  justified  by  the  procession  of  well-armed  vessels 
passing  their  town. 

One  lively  gentleman,  who  rode  down  to  the  bank  on  horseback, 


106    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

appeared  to  be  an  oracle,  as  lie  was  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  per 
sons  to  whom  he  seemed  to  be  answering  questions.  He  examined 
us  critically  through  a  large  lorgnette,  perhaps  in  search  of  the 
mythical  shot-holes. 

We  passed  and  made  no  sign,  gliding  quietly  along  with  the 
current  like  specter  vessels,  leaving  the  great  crowd  behind  us  and 
approaching  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  when  I  saw  standing  in  the 
doorway  of  an  arbor  covered  with  clematis  a  young  girl  of  about 
fourteen,  dressed  in  white,  with  a  chip  hat,  holding  in  one  hand  a 
white  handkerchief  and  in  the  other  a  blue  parasol. 

We  were  so  close  to  her  that  I  could  note  the  expression  of  her 
countenance  without  the  aid  of  a  glass  as  she  vigorously  waved  her 
handkerchief,  while  I  waved  mine  in  return. 

Then  she  opened  her  parasol  and  displayed  a  small  Union 
flag,  which  she  kissed  and  pressed  to  her  heart ;  and  so  she  stood 
until  we  passed,  concealed  from  the  crowd  above  by  the  small 
arbor. 

Many  in  our  flotilla  noticed  the  act  and  removed  their  caps ; 
then  the  flag  disappeared  within  the  folds  of  the  parasol,  and 
the  maiden  stood  looking  after  us  until  we  were  out  of  sight,  as  if 
loath  to  lose  sight  of  the  stars  and  stripes. 

Whether  or  not  she  suffered  for  her  temerity  we  never  knew,  but 
let  us  hope  her  noble  act  was  only  seen  by  those  for  whom  it  was 
intended. 

I  shall  never  forget  that  little  maiden,  and,  should  she  chance  to 
read  these  pages,  she  will  know  that  her  courage  was  appreciated. 

THE  EOSE  IN  THE  DESERT. 

Farewell,  little  maid,  may  the  rose  and  the  vine 

Thy  beautiful  arbor  forever  entwine, 

Thy  heroic  act  has  made  it  divine ; 

Thou'rt  a  rose  in  the  desert,  where  the  flowers'  perfume 

Don't  often  linger,  and  where  flowers  don't  bloom. 

Yet  one  dewdrop  may  reach  the  heart  of  a  rose 

Which,  refreshing  its  life,  in  the  desert  it  grows. 

'Twas  the  flash  of  a  dream,  a  vision  of  light, 

A  sweet  emblem  of  faith,  when  you  burst  on  my  sight. 

Like  the  maid  of  the  mist,  in  the  soft  vapor  spray 

Your  young  face  with  its  halo  soon  melted  away. 

But  that  form  in  its  glory  will  ever  remain 

Impressed  on  my  soul  though  we  ne'er  meet  again. 


IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  CAPTURE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  107 

There's  many  a  slip  'twixt  the  cup  and  the  lip, 
But  whenever  the  rich  flowing  beaker  I  sip 
I'll  drink  a  good  health  in  a  bumper  of  wine 
"Wherever  I  am,  and  that  toast  shall  be  thine. 

As  we  passed  on  down  the  Mississippi  all  seemed  peaceful  and 
quiet,  and  whatever  may  have  been  the  heart-burnings  and  hostility 
to  the  Union,  they  were  not  exhibited. 

They  assumed  a  virtue  if  they  had  it  not.  Steamers  were  ply 
ing  on  the  river  bearing  the  Union  flag,  and  the  same  flag  floated 
over  the  barracks  at  Baton  Rouge,  where  troops  were  stationed  to 
preserve  order  in  that  neighborhood.  It  may  not  have  been  alto 
gether  agreeable  to  the  residents,  but  it  was  beneficial  to  the  com 
munity  at  large. 

As  we  slipped  past  New  Orleans  I  noticed  that  the  shipping  had 
greatly  increased  since  I  had  last  seen  the  place.  Many  Union  and 
foreign  flags  were  flying  from  the  mast-heads,  and  the  levee  had 
quite  a  lively  appearance. 

General  Butler  was  still  in  the  ascendant,  putting  on  all  the 
style  of  a  viceroy  and  slowly  bringing  order  out  of  chaos. 

There  were  many  complaints  against  his  administration,  but  it 
must  be  said  that  as  long  as  people  conformed  to  the  regulations  he 
established  they  got  along  well  enough. 

People  in  a  conquered  city  can  not  dictate  terms  to  the  con 
querors,  and  municipal  laws  must  give  way  to  military  regula 
tions. 

From  New  Orleans  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  Union 
authority  prevailed,  and  one  would  hardly  have  supposed  that  a 
different  state  of  affairs  had  so  lately  existed.  This  condition  was 
assured  for  the  future,  for  no  power  in  the  Southern  Confederacy 
could  change  it. 

All  this  was  the  result  of  the  navy's  work  in  beating  down  the 
defenses  of  New  Orleans.  The  people  of  the  United  States  have 
never  realized  the  importance  of  the  capture  of  New  Orleans — the 
most  brilliant  affair  of  the  war.  That  the  entire  plan  of  the  cam 
paign  was  not  carried  out  does  not  detract  from  the  gallantry  and 
importance  of  this  achievement. 

Had  a  British  naval  officer  performed  such  a  service  as  Farragut 
for  his  country,  he  would  have  received  the  highest  honors  and  the 
most  splendid  pecuniary  rewards.  But  only  when  the  war  was 
over  was  Farragut  given  the  rank  of  admiral  with  a  salary  quite 
inadequate  to  maintain  his  position,  and  seven  thousand  dollars  less 


108    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

than  the  pay  of  the  corresponding  rank  in  the  army,  or  only  about 
equal  to  the  emoluments  of  a  major-general. 

When  Farragut  died  the  Government  indeed  paid  his  memory 
the  highest  honors  that  it  could,  and  Congress,  with  what  seemed 
to  them  unbounded  liberality,  bestowed  upon  his  widow  an  annual 
pension  of  two  thousand  dollars — about  one  fifteenth  of  one  per 
cent  interest  on  what  Farragut's  captures  added  to  the  Naval  Pen 
sion  Fund. 

These  things  show  plainly  enough  that  those  who  employed 
Admiral  Farragut  and  appropriated  a  great  deal  of  credit  for  what 
he  accomplished  were  remiss  in  not  making  greater  efforts  to  see 
him  amply  rewarded. 

Honors  are  very  grateful  things,  but  they  become  onerous  unless 
accompanied  with  the  means  of  maintaining  properly  the  position 
of  the  recipient,  and  thus  enabling  him  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the 
door. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

GETTING  TO  SEA  IK  THE  STEAMER  HARRIET  LANE  —  PASSING 
COCKPIT  POINT  BATTERIES — A  SOUTHERN-BORN  OFFICER  LOY 
AL  TO  THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES— HIS  DEATH  AT  GALVESTON. 

As  this  is  not  a  continuous  narrative,  I  can  not  well  maintain 
strict  order  in  my  reminiscences.  I  jot  down  the  recollections  as 
they  come  up  in  my  memory. 

At  the  time  the  mortar  flotilla  was  fitted  out  I  had  no  vessel 
assigned  for  myself  among  all  the  curious  craft  the  Navy  Depart 
ment  was  buying  up.  It  was  natural  to  suppose  that,  with  twenty- 
eight  vessels  under  my  command,  I  should  need  a  place  where  I 
could  perform  the  duties  of  commanding  officer  of  the  flotilla,  and 
I  was  told  that  the  "  double-ender "  Octorora  was  intended  for 
me,  although  she  had  only  recently  been  launched,  and  was  not 
near  ready  for  service. 

In  the  mean  while  I  was  informed  that  I  could  go  out  in  the 
Harriet  Lane  with  Lieutenant-Commanding  Wainwright,  and  in 
due  course  of  time  the  Octorora  would  reach  me. 

The  Harriet  Lane  was  a  very  small  steamer,  built  for  a  revenue- 


ON  BOARD  THE  HARRIET  LANE.        109 

cutter,  and  was  caught  up  by  the  Navy  Department  and  turned 
into  a  vessel  of  war — a  system,  I  suppose,  we  shall  adhere  to  in 
case  of  a  difficulty  with  a  European  power :  fall  back  on  the 
revenue  marine,  Coast  Survey,  and  Fish  Commission  for  vessels,  and 
have  a  navy  register  filled  with  a  formidable  array  of  names  apper 
taining  to  a  lot  of  "rattletraps." 

The  cabin  of  the  Harriet  Lane  was  very  small,  and  there  was 
one  little  state-room  which  the  captain  naturally  wanted  for  him 
self.  It  never  struck  him  to  offer  it  to  me,  although  I  was  his 
commanding  officer ;  but  if  he  had,  I  certainly  should  have  de 
clined  it. 

In  those  days  I  was  a  hardy  fellow,  despising  luxury — always 
traveled  with  as  little  luggage  as  possible,  and  could  sleep  any 
where.  No  doubt  the  department  took  into  account  my  pecu 
liarities,  and  said,  "  He  doesn't  mind  ;  he's  tough  ;  send  him  in 
anything." 

I  went  down  to  the  Washington  navy-yard  with  my  orders, 
"  Proceed  without  delay  to  Key  West  in  the  Harriet  Lane,  and  take 
command  of  the  mortar  flotilla,"  etc. 

Lieutenant  Wainwright  received  me  at  the  gangway  with  a  smil 
ing  face,  and  my  trunk  was  passed  on  board.  Although  Wain 
wright  knew  that  he  was  to  have  a  passenger,  he  seemed  surprised 
at  the  trunk.  He  perhaps  thought  a  little  hand-bag  would  be  all 
I  should  require,  and  he  looked  doubtfully  at  the  impedimenta 
and  said, 

"  I  don't  see  how  we  shall  be  able  to  stow  that  trunk  in  the 
cabin,  but  I  must  contrive  some  way," 

"  Put  it  in  the  maintop,"  I  said,  "and  get  under  way  at  once." 

Wainwright  looked  surprised.  "  I  am  not  ready  for  sea,  sir, 
yet ;  the  coal  is  not  all  on  board." 

"As  to  that,"  I  replied,  "  I  never  saw  a  naval  vessel  that  was 
ready  for  sea  ;  nevertheless,  we  will  get  under  way,  and  procure  coal 
in  Norfolk  or  Port  Royal." 

"  But  I  haven't  laid  in  the  cabin-stores." 

"All  right,"  I  said  ;  "the  ship-stores  are  good  enough  for  me." 

"  Two  of  the  officers  and  the  cabin  steward  are  away." 

"  We'll  leave  them  then,"  I  said. 

"But,"  said  Wainwright,  "our  chronometer  has  not  come  on 
board." 

"  Of  course,"  I  said,  "  chronometers  are  always  slow.  We  will 
go  without  one,  trusting  to  the  three  Z's — lead,  log,  and  lookout." 


110    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"Wainwright  was  in  despair,  and  no  doubt  thought  the  navy  was 
going  to  the  d — 1  sure  enough  ;  but  he  gave  the  order  to  the  first 
lieutenant  to  light  the  fires. 

"The  fires  are  already  lighted,  sir,"  said  the  young  officer, 
Lieutenant  Lee,  "and  steam  will  be  up  in  twenty  minutes." 

I  took  to  the  young  man  at  once,  for  I  liked  his  prompt  way 
of  doing  duty. 

Next  morning,  by  daylight,  we  arrived  at  Cockpit  Point,  and 
found  there  five  small  steamers  called  "vessels  of  war!"  each 
mounting  several  rifle-guns,  and  forming  part  of  a  river  flotilla  of 
some  fourteen  vessels  under  Lieutenant  Wyman.  It  had  formerly 
been  under  the  command  of  Commander  James  H.  Ward,  who 
never  permitted  a  rebel  battery  to  be  erected  on  the  Potomac. 

But  now  the  rebels  had  blocked  our  game,  and  we  were  in 
formed  that  we  must  wait  eight  days  so  as  to  have  a  dark  night  for 
passing  what  was  supposed  to  be  a  powerful  battery  at  Cockpit 
Point. 

Just  then  a  thick  snow-storm  came  on,  and  you  could  hardly 
see  a  ship's  length. 

"We  will  pass  the  batteries  now,"  I  said  ;  "this  is  better  than 
a  dark  night.  You  can  follow  us,  Captain  "  (to  the  officer  in  com 
mand),  "and  enfilade  the  rebel  batteries  in  case  they  open  on  us." 

It  was  about  7  A.  M.  when  we  got  abreast  of  Cockpit  Point,  the 
snow-storm  held  up,  and  everything  became  clear  as  noonday. 

I  stood  on  the  wheel-house  with  Captain  Wainwright  and  the 
first  lieutenant.  A  puff  of  smoke  came  from  the  bushes  on  shore. 

"  Why,  they  have  dared  to  fire  on  the  flag ! "  exclaimed  the 
first  lieutenant,  excitedly.  He  was  a  full-blooded  Southerner,  born 
in  the  very  heart  of  Secessia. 

Just  then  a  large  rifle-shell  struck  the  rim  of  our  port  wheel, 
cutting  it  in  two,  and  the  fragments  of  the  wheel  were  knocking 
the  wheel-house  to  pieces. 

"That  was  a  slap  in  the  face,"  said  the  youngster ;  "can't  we 
return  the  fire,  sir  ?  " 

"No,  my  young  friend,"  I  replied;  "never  fire  at  a  battery 
when  you  are  running  it,  and  throw  away  your  shot.  You  will 
have  firing  enough  before  the  war  is  over." 

Presently  a  shell  passed  through  the  smoke-stack  and  exploded 
just  beyond. 

"  They  have  hit  us  again  ! "  exclaimed  the  young  officer.  "  The 
dastardly  villains,  to  fire  on  the  flag  ! " 


STANDING  BY  THE   COUNTRY'S  FLAG.  HI 

Three  shells  followed  in  quick  succession,  cutting  away  an  iron 
stack-stay,  chipping  off  a  piece  of  the  rail,  and  knocking  a  ham 
mock  out. 

"There,  Mr.  Lee,"  I  said,  "they  will  trouble  us  no  more,  as  we 
have  passed  their  line  of  fire.  It  would  have  been  useless  to  fire  at 
scattered  guns  in  bushes  and  behind  sand-hills,  not  knowing  their 
distance.  From  what  I  can  learn  of  Cockpit  Battery,  out  of  the 
many  vessels  that  have  run  past  its  fire  it  has  never  yet  succeeded 
in  sinking  one  of  them." 

"Excuse  me,  sir,  for  my  warmth,"  said  the  young  officer.  "I 
am  a  Southern  man,  and  my  family  have  disowned  me  because  I 
would  not  join  what  they  call  the  Confederate  cause.  My  father 
says  if  he  should  ever  meet  me  in  battle  he  would  shoot  me  like  a 
dog.  How  can  I  help  hating  a  cause  that  has  taken  all  the  love  of 
my  family  from  me  ?  " 

"Yet  you  don't  regret  your  action  in  sticking  to  your  flag?" 
I  inquired. 

"No,  indeed,"  he  answered  ;  "I  would  die  before  I  would  de 
sert  it,  and  do  not  desire  the  love  of  my  family  if  I  can  only  possess 
it  by  turning  traitor  to  my  country." 

"  I  admire  your  sentiments,"  sir  ;  "don't  let  them  depart  from 
you." 

Four  miles  below  the  Cockpit  Battery  we  stopped  to  mend  our 
wheel  as  best  we  could. 

I  took  a  great  deal  of  notice  of  the  youngster  on  our  way  to  Key 
West,  being  much  attracted  by  his  patriotic  sentiments  and  manly 
bearing.  I  knew  many  Southern  officers  who  had  not  the  moral 
courage  to  stand  by  their  flag,  and  from  this  young  man's  story  I 
could  see  how  much  he  had  to  contend  with  in  the  step  he  had 
taken. 

He  had  never  before  seen  a  shot  fired  in  anger,  and  could  not 
restrain  his  indignation  at  the  idea  of  Southern  men  so  soon  for 
swearing  allegiance  to  the  flag  under  which  they  were  born,  and  even 
firing  upon  it  when  passing  along  the  public  highway  for  vessels. 

"I  can  understand,"  said  he,  "how  men  in  an  excited  condi 
tion  can  be  urged  on  to  violence  by  demagogues,  but  I  can  not 
understand  how  men  in  cold  blood  can  fire  at  a  vessel  belonging  to 
the  navy  that  has  conferred  so  much  honor  on  the  North  and  on 
the  South.  I  think  that  the  river  flotilla  could  have  enfiladed 
Cockpit  Point  while  we  were  passing,  and  it  might  have  diverted 
the  enemy's  aim  and  saved  our  wheel." 


112  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "people  can  do  anything  when  they  want  to, 
but  perhaps  they  did  not  want  to.  It  doesn't  make  a  great  deal  of 
difference  anyhow,  and  it  is  best  not  to  make  that  battery  of  too 
much  importance." 

We  spent  three  days  in  Hampton  Eoads  repairing  damages,  and 
sailed  thence  for  Key  West. 

The  young  officer  served  with  me  all  the  time  I  commanded  the 
mortar  flotilla,  and  his  friends  may  well  be  proud  of  him  for  his 
chivalric  courage  and  loyalty  to  his  flag. 

When  taking  leave  of  the  officers  of  the  flotilla  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi,  I  bade  good-by  to  young  Lee,  who  was  still  first 
lieutenant  of  the  Harriet  Lane. 

"I  shall  never  see  you  again,"  he  said,  "for  I  feel  that  I  have 
but  a  short  time  to  stay  here.  I  am  not  sorry,  for  it  is  dreadful  to 
live  with  the  hatred  of  those  whom  you  love  and  who  once  loved 
you.  I  hope  to  die  in  defense  of  the  flag,  and  I  want  my  friends 
to  know  that  I  did  my  duty  faithfully  to  my  country.  In  case  of 
my  death,  sir,  will  you  see  this  done  for  me  ?  " 

I  promised  that  I  would  do  what  he  wished,  but  told  him  it  was 
foolish  to  indulge  in  such  morbid  feelings  ;  that  when  the  war  was 
over  his  family  would  welcome  him  home  again  and  would  be  proud 
of  his  record. 

"No,  no,  sir,"  he  replied,  "you  don't  know  my  people.  I  do 
not  wish  to  live  to  hear  my  parents  curse  me  for  doing  what  they 
taught  me  from  childhood  :  '  Be  true  to  the  Government  and  the 
flag.'" 

I  never  saw  him  again,  for  he  was  killed  soon  after  on  the  deck 
of  the  Harriet  Lane  at  Galveston,  defending  the  flag  to  the  last. 

Galveston  had  been  captured,  and  Flag-Officer  Farragut  sent  a 
small  detachment  of  vessels,  among  them  the  Harriet  Lane,  there 
to  hold  the  place,  under  Commander  Eenshaw. 

The  harbor  of  Galveston  is  a  peculiar  one,  with  several  channels 
leading  to  it  from  the  bar,  and  a  number  of  large  mud-flats  where 
the  water  is  very  shallow. 

The  vessels  under  Eenshaw  lay  in  the  various  channels  out  of 
supporting  distance  of  each  other,  and  the  Confederate  general, 
Magruder,  determined  on  a  bold  attempt  for  their  capture. 

He  fitted  out  three  or  four  river-steamers  packed  with  cotton- 
bales  and  filled  with  riflemen.  The  Harriet  Lane  lay  nearest  the 
town,  and  the  sudden  attack  found  her  not  properly  prepared  for 
resistance.  One  of  the  rebel  steamers  jammed  under  her  guards 


HAVOC  OF  REVOLUTIONS.  113 

and  could  not  get  away,  nor  could  those  on  board  the  Harriet  Lane 
bring  a  gun  to  bear  on  the  enemy. 

IP.  ten  minutes  the  numerous  marksmen  on  board  the  Confeder 
ate  steamer  cleared  the  decks  of  the  Harriet  Lane  ;  every  officer  and 
man  on  deck  was  shot  down — it  was  a  slaughter-house  affair.  Cap 
tain  Wain wright  was  killed  at  the  first  volley,  and  directly  after 
ward  young  Lee  was  mortally  wounded. 

There  being  nothing  left  to  oppose  them,  the  Confederates 
rushed  on  board  and  took  possession  of  the  steamer.  They  were 
led  by  a  stalwart  officer  with  a  drawn  sword. 

Lieutenant  Lee  was  lying  on  deck  apparently  dead,  his  head 
supported  by  the  cabin  steward.  The  Confederate  officer  demanded 
of  the  steward,  "  Who  is  that  officer  ?  " 

"This,  is  Mr.  Lee,  our  first  lieutenant,"  replied  the  steward, 
"and  I  think  he  is  dead." 

The  Confederate  leader  staggered  back.  "God  in  heaven  !"  he 
exclaimed,  "poor  boy!  is  there  no  hope  at  all  ?"  Then  he  cried 
in  agony,  "  Speak  to  me  !  Say  that  you  forgive  us  ! " 

The  young  man  opened  his  eyes  at  the  sound  of  his  uncle's 
voice. 

"I  have  nothing  to  forgive,"  he  said,  "but  you  saw  that  1  did 
my  duty  to  the  last  and  died  fighting  for  my  country.  Tell  them 
all  at  home  I  ever  loved  them."  And  he  expired. 

I  received  the  account  of  this  heart-rending  scene  from  the 
steward  of  the  Harriet  Lane,  in  whose  arms  the  young  officer  died. 
His  last  request  to  the  steward  was,  that  he  would  tell  me  how  he 
had  died  at  his  post  in  defense  of  the  flag.  The  steward  related 
the  events  of  the  massacre  with  such  emotion  that  I  could  hardly 
refrain  from  tears,  although  not  given  to  the  melting  mood. 

Lieutenant  Lee  was  buried  among  his  people  in  his  Southern 
home ;  his  shadow  was  no  longer  cast  between  them  and  the  sun, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  rancor  which  once  dwelt  in  their 
hearts  was  buried  in  the  grave  they  made  him  under  the  moss- 
covered  oaks  of  his  birthplace. 

This  sad  occurrence  was  only  one  of  many  similar  scenes  which 
occurred  during  the  civil  war ;  but  it  was  one  in  which  I  was  im 
mediately  interested,  and,  although  I  have  missed  many  a  brave 
young  fellow  from  my  side,  yet  I  think  oftener  of  that  young 
officer,  with  his  lofty  aspirations  and  high  sense  of  duty,  shot 
down  like  a  dog  by  his  own  people  without  a  chance  to  defend 
himself. 

8 


114  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

When  I  recall  those  days  I  can  not  help  thinking  that  his 
Satanic  majesty  must  have  got  loose  upon  earth  to  set  men  at  work 
to  destroy  each  other. 

I  will  merely  add  to  this  a  statement  which  shows  the  changes 
made  by  war  and  time  on  the  lives  of  men.  They  may  escape  the 
bullet  and  the  steel,  but  the  excitement  of  such  a  revolution  as 
that  through  which  our  country  passed  leaves  an  indelible  mark. 
Of  the  commanding  naval  officers  in  the  mortar  flotilla  who  stood 
by  me  all  through  the  expedition — Guest,  "Woodworth,  Harrel, 
Wainwright,  Breese,  Watson  Smith,  and  Eenshaw — all  are  dead, 
though  then  in  the  vigor  of  manhood.  All  were  gallant  men,  and 
deserving  of  the  highest  honors. 

Baldwin  alone  lived  to  reach  the  top  of  the  ladder,  and  now 
represents  his  country  honorably  in  command  of  the  Mediterranean 
squadron. 

All  the  first  lieutenants  of  the  different  steamers  are  dead  or 
have  left  the  service. 

It  seems  but  yesterday  that  I  saw  all .  these  officers,  full  of  life 
and  manly  aspirations,  devoting  their  lives  to  their  country  which 
has  forgotten  them. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A  VISIT  TO  THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT — NEWPORT  CLUB — BETS  ON 
FAVORITE  GENERALS — A  SNOB — ACCUSED  OF  TALKING  TREASON 
— ORDERED  TO  WASHINGTON— THREATENED  TO  RESIGN— OR 
DERED  TO  COMMAND  THE  MISSISSIPPI  SQUADRON — A  GREAT 
GENERAL — MORAL. 

WHEN  I  arrived  in  Washington  after  the  termination  of  my 
New  Orleans  expedition  I  called  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
who  received  me  with  that  placidity  for  which  he  was  remarkable. 

Mr.  Welles  was  never  enthusiastic  about  anything,  and  never 
cast  down,  whatever  misfortunes  might  happen. 

When  he  was  informed  that  the  Merrimac  had  sunk  the  Con 
gress  and  the  Cumberland,  he  simply  said,  "Let  Mr.  Fox  know  it." 
If  Mr.  Welles  did  not  welcome  an  officer  warmly,  it  was  because  it 
was  not  his  nature  to  do  so  ;  he  always  received  one  courteously. 

"  Good-morning  ! "  said  the  secretary,  as  I  entered  the  room  ; 


SCENE  AT  A  NEWPORT,  R.  I.,  CLUB.  115 

"  I  sent  for  you  to  come  north  and  bombard  Fort  Darling,  on  the 
James  River  ;  can  you  do  it  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,"  I  replied,  "I  can  put  fifty  tons  of  shells  on  top  of 
it ;  but  what  good  will  that  do  if  there  are  no  soldiers  to  hold  it 
when  we  drive  the  enemy  out  ?  As  soon  as  we  are  done  bombard 
ing,  the  enemy  will  go  back  and  make  the  place  stronger  by  piling 
up  our  broken  shells." 

"  Well,  as  there  are  no  troops  available,  we  must  give  up  the 
idea,"  said  Mr.  Welles.  "Tell  Mr.  Faxon  to  have  a  two  weeks' 
leave  of  absence  made  out  for  you,  so  that  you  can  see  your  family. 
Good-morning." 

So  I  departed  for  Newport,  R.  I.,  where  I  put  myself  under  the 
care  of  a  physician,  having  brought  with  me  a  case  of  "  breakbone 
fever  "  as  a  souvenir  of  the  Mississippi. 

One  evening  I  was  at  the  Newport  Club,  where  were  assembled 
some  thirty  or  forty  persons,  many  of  them  vociferating  loudly,  so 
that  I  feared  from  their  excitement  it  would  soon  be  necessary  to 
call  in  the  services  of  the  police. 

An  old  habitue  sat  on  the  sofa,  looking  at  the  game  of  billiards  I 
was  playing.  "  Pray,  Mr.  Pell,"  I  said,  "  what  is  all  the  excite 
ment  about  ?  " 

"  Why,"  he  answered,  "  this  is  our  usual  evening's  entertain 
ment.  It  is  a  meeting  of  the  copperheads  and  radical  republicans  ; 
they  have  just  come  in  from  dinner  parties  and  want  to  see  how 
much  money  they  can  bet  without  any  one  taking  them  up.  Each 
is  now  bragging  of  his  own  general,  and  seems  determined  to  bet 
him  into  the  Presidency." 

At  that  instant  a  voice  cried  out,  "I'll  bet  five  hundred  dollars 
General will  be  the  next  President ! " 

"  Done,"  said  another  ;  "  I  take  it  up  and  go  five  hundred  bet 
ter,"  whereupon  there  was  much  shouting  and  some  profanity,  with 
indications  of  a  general  row. 

I  could  not  help  laughing  at  this  absurd  spectacle.  "What 
fools  these  mortals  be,"  I  said  to  my  companion. 

"Do  you  know  anything  of  the  generals  they  are  quarreling 
about  ?  "  inquired  Mr.  Pell. 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "I  know  some  of  them." 

By  this  time  the  crowd  of  clubmen  had  become  so  uproarious 
that  Mr.  Pell  thought  it  time  to  make  a  diversion,  and,  going 
among  the  disputants,  said  : 

"Pooh!  pooh!   don't  quarrel  about  people  you  don't  know. 


116  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Here  is  Captain  Porter,  who  knows  these  generals,  and  can  tell  you 
all  about  them." 

The  crowd  surged  toward  me,  and  one  little  fellow,  with  more 
money  than  brains,  and  whose  principal  recommendation  was  a  fine 
set  of  teeth,  blurted  out,  frantically,  "  Captain  Porter,  I  bet  Gener 
al  is  the  greatest  general  the  world  ever  saw,  and  will  be  our 

next  President.  Do  you  say,  sir,  that  he  is  not  the  greatest  gen 
eral  that  ever  lived  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  I  replied  ;  "  I  consider  him  no  greater  than  Caesar, 
Hannibal,  Marlborough,  Napoleon,  not  to  mention  others  who  have 
accomplished  a  great  deal  in  the  military  way." 

"Damn  Caesar  and  Napoleon  and  all  the  rest  of  them,"  said  the 
little  man.  s '  They'd  be  nowhere  fighting  against  such  troops  as 
our  army  have  had  to  oppose,  and  in  such  a  country  as  our  men 
have  to  fight.  "What  do  you  know  of  Caesar  and  Hannibal  that 
you  make  such  an  assertion  ?  " 

"Why,  sir,"  I  replied,  "I  was  intimate  with  both  these  gener 
als,  and  took  breakfast  with  them  in  the  Alps,  which  they  passed 
with  very  little  trouble." 

"  You  are  making  a  jest  of  this  thing,  sir,"  said  the  little  man, 
fiercely.  "  I  can't  stand  jesting." 

"You  can't  stand  drinking  either,"  I  said,  "for  it  has  evidently 
been  too  much  for  your  weak  head." 

Just  then  a  copperhead  sang  out,  "  I'll  bet  a  thousand  dollars 
Beauregard  could  whip  Napoleon  out  of  his  boots  any  time." 

"  What  do  you  say  to  that  proposition  ?  "  turning  to  me. 

"Let  me  settle  this  little  fellow  here,"  I  replied,  "before  enter 
ing  upon  a  controversy  with  you. " 

"Well,  sir,"  said  the  little  fellow,  "I  wouldn't  be  surprised  to 
hear  you  say  that  Stonewall  Jackson  is  superior  to  our  generals." 

"Well,"  I  answered,  "as  you  mention  the  subject,  I  will  say 
that  I  have  heard  some  people  assert  that  Stonewall  Jackson  is  the 
hardest  man  alive  to  whip." 

"  Hurrah  for  Stonewall  Jackson  ! "  shouted  a  copperhead. 
"  Put  up  your  pocket-book,  little  man,  you're  a  snob  ! " 

This  made  the  little  man  very  angry,  and,  as  I  seemed  the  least 
ruffled  of  the  party  and  did  not  look  as  if  I  would  get  angry,  he 
turned  upon  me. 

"  Sir,  you  are  talking  treason — yes,  sir,  treason.  I'll  bet  you  two 
thousand  dollars  General will  be  the  next  President." 

"Look  here,  little  man,"  I  said,  "you  have  a  good  set  of  teeth, 


SLANDERED  BY  A  WOMAN.  117 

and  my  advice  to  you  is  to  try  and  keep  them  in  your  mouth." 
Then  his  friends  took  him  away.  In  two  minutes  all  was  apparent 
ly  good  humor  again,  the  subject  of  conversation  was  changed,  and 
I  finished  my  game  of  billiards. 

Next  morning,  while  taking  a  walk,  I  was  accosted  by  Dr.  P., 
of  the  navy,  who  was  attending  me  professionally. 

"  There  are  some  ugly  reports  about  you  going  the  rounds  in 
Newport/'  said  the  doctor,  "and  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  tell  you 
of  them." 

"  Eeports  about  me  ?  Why,  I  hardly  know  anybody  in  the  place. 
Pray  what  are  the  reports  ?  " 

"  One  of  the  stories  is  that  you  have  used  treasonable  language," 
said  the  doctor. 

"And  who  has  circulated  such  a  libel  as  that  ?" 

"Oh,  I  can't  tell  you,"  said  the  doctor,  "as  it  was  told  to  me 
in  confidence." 

"  But  what  good  will  this  information  do  me  unless  I  know  the 
person  who  has  made  the  accusation  ?  "  Then  I  remembered  the 
occurrence  of  the  previous  evening  at  the  club. 

"It  will  put  you  on  your  guard,"  he  said. 

"  But  that  won't  satisfy  me,  doctor.  I  insist  on  knowing  who 
the  person  is  who  has  slandered  me.  You  are  not  sufficiently  intimate 
with  me  to  bring  such  a  report  without  telling  me  who  is  responsible 
for  it.  I  want  the  man's  name,  so  that  I  can  call  him  to  account, 
and,  unless  you  give  it,  I  shall  hold  you  personally  responsible." 

The  doctor  saw  that  I  was  thoroughly  in  earnest,  and,  after 
hesitating  a  moment,  he  said  :  "  I  shall  be  guilty  of  a  breach  of  con 
fidence  if  I  tell  you  ;  besides,  it  is  not  a  man — it  is  a  lady,  and  you 
can  not  hold  her  responsible." 

"If  she  has  a  husband,"  I  replied,  "perhaps  he  can  be  made  to 
teach  his  wife  to  confine  herself  to  the  truth." 

Seeing  that  I  was  determined  to  find  out  all  about  the  matter, 
the  doctor  said  :  "  Well,  if  you  insist  on  knowing,  it  is  old  Mrs.  B. 
She  told  me  in  confidence,  and  will  never  forgive  me  if  she  knows  I 
have  told  you." 

"Ah  !  "  I  said,  "  that  old  spy  who  goes  around  spotting  people 
and  giving  information  to  the  Government.  I  have  not  even  seen 
the  woman,  and  as  to  holding  her  husband  responsible  for  what 
she  may  say,  that  would  be  absurd  ;  he  is  a  harmless  old  gentleman, 
and  I  should  not  think  of  making  war  on  him.  But  pray,  doctor, 
what  else  did  she  say  of  me  ?  " 


118    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"She  said  a  good  many  things,"  replied  the  doctor.  "I  think 
you  must  have  offended  her  in  some  way.  She  says  you  are  a 
brother-in-law  of  Semmes,  and  connived  at  his  escape  from  the 
Mississippi  River  in  the  Sumter." 

"Well,  as  I  was  at  Southwest  Pass,  and  Semmes  got  out  of 
Pass  a  FOutre,  where  the  Brooklyn  was  stationed,  and  as  that 
vessel  chased  him  off  the  coast,  there's  no  use  in  talking  about  it. 
What  next?" 

"Mrs.  B.  says  you  are  a  Southern  man  and  a  hot  rebel." 

"Born  in  Pennsylvania,"  I  replied.  "And  you  took  all  that 
in,  did  you,  and  you  a  naval  officer  ?  " 

The  doctor  looked  confused  and  said  nothing.  As  I  turned  to 
ward  the  house  a  dispatch  was  handed  me  from  the  telegraph-office  : 

"  Proceed  to  Washington  without  delay  and  report  to  the  Navy 
Department.  GIDEON  WELLES." 

"Thank  you,"  I  exclaimed  ;  "I  will  get  out  of  this  den  of 
scandal  and  have  some  active  service." 

At  6  P.  M.  the  following  day  I  arrived  in  Washington  and  went 
straight  to  the  Navy  Department.  Mr.  Welles  had  gone  home,  but 
I  saw  the  assistant  secretary,  Mr.  Fox. 

"  Here  I  am,"  I  said.     "  What  is  wanted  ?  " 

"  We  just  wanted  to  look  at  you,"  said  Fox. 

"  I  am  not  much  to  look  at  after  an  attack  of  break-bone  fever ; 
but,  like  the  lean  horse,  I'm  good  enough  to  go  if  there's  anything 
for  me  to  do." 

"Can  you  get  your  things  out  of  the  Octorora  in  two  hours  ?" 
inquired  Fox.  "We  are  going  to  give  the  vessel  to  Lieutenant 
George  Brown,  to  proceed  at  once  to  Charleston." 

As  the  Octorora  was  then  in  Baltimore,  I  had  not  much  time 
allowed  me. 

"  Lieutenant  Brown  can  have  all  my  things,"  I  replied.  "  He 
will  need  them,  and  I  can  sleep  on  a  camp-stool,  if  necessary — but 
what  is  to  become  of  my  mortar  vessels  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"They  are  to  be  turned  over  to  Wilkes,"  replied  Fox,  "and  the 
organization  broken  up." 

I  saw  at  once  that  something  was  wrong,  but  had  no  idea  at  the 
time  that  people  were  sending  reports  to  the  department,  under 
plea  of  zeal  for  the  cause  of  the  Union,  to  prejudice  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  against  his  most  faithful  subordinates. 

The  case  of  General  Stone  is  one  which  is  an  eternal  disgrace  to 
the  United  States  Government.  He  suffered  every  indignity,  and, 


VISIT  TO  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  119 

when  his  innocence  was  clearly  shown,  he  was  discharged  without 
an  apology  or  explanation. 

Fortunately,  I  had  strong  friends  in  the  President,  Secretary 
Seward,  and  Secretary  Chase,  and  I  felt  myself  secure  from  serious 
assault. 

Next  day  I  saw  Fox  at  the  department  and  he  informed  me 
that  I  was  to  be  sent  to  St.  Louis  to  superintend  the  construction 
of  ironclads  under  Commodore  Hull. 

I  made  no  secret  of  my  indignation  at  this  information. 

"  This  is  ostracizing  me,"  I  said.  "  Certainly  my  services  de 
serve  something  better.  You  can't  send  me  there." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,"  said  Fox,  "that  you  will  refuse  to  obey 
the  order  ?" 

"Not  exactly  that,"  I  replied  ;  "but  I  look  upon  such  orders 
as  an  indignity.  I  will  cheerfully  obey  any  order  where  I  can  be 
of  service  against  the  enemies  of  my  country,  but  treat  me  in  that 
way,  and  I  will  resign,  and  get  the  merchants  of  New  York  to 
give  me  a  suitable  vessel,  and  then  I  will  go  out  and  show  you  how 
to  catch  the  Alabama." 

I  walked  away,  Fox  staring  after  me  in  astonishment.  This 
was  one  of  the  few  times  when  he  got  off  his  balance.  The  woman 
with  a  "  B  "  to  her  name,  and  the  little  fellow  of  the  Newport  Club, 
Fox's  intimate  friend,  had  imposed  upon  him.  What  they  really 
told  him  I  never  knew  or  cared. 

I  could  not  see  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  as  he  was  engaged, 
but  I  wrote  to  him  that  I  was  ready  for  active  duty  at  a  moment's 
notice,  and,  until  my  services  were  required,  I  would  like  to  rejoin 
my  family  in  Newport. 

Permission  was  at  once  given  me,  and  I  do  not  believe  Mr. 
Welles  ever  knew  I  had  been  sent  for. 

I  was  not  in  the  best  of  humor  when  I  departed  from  the  office, 
as  I  thought  my  chances  for  distinction  were  at  an  end.  I  felt  sure 
the  Navy  Department  was  hostile  to  me,  and  that  I  could  never  get 
along  because  too  stiff-necked  to  be  a  courtier.  I  forgot,  for  the 
moment, 

"There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,  rough-hew  them  how  we  will." 

The  very  wind  that  I  supposed  was  blowing  me  to  destruction 
was,  in  fact,  wafting  me  to  fortune. 

I  thought  I  would  call,  before  leaving  Washington,  and  pay  my 


120    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

respects  to  the  President.  I  found  him  in  company  with  Mr. 
Seward,  and  both  gentlemen  seemed  glad  to  see  me. 

"What  can  I  do  for  you,  Captain,"  said  the  President. 

"  Sir,"  I  said,  "  I  think  of  resigning  from  the  navy  and  getting 
the  merchants  of  New  York  to  give  me  a  suitable  steamer,  so  that 
I  may  show  the  Navy  Department  how  to  catch  the  Alabama.  That 
would  suit  my  disposition  better  than  superintending  ironclads  at 
St.  Louis  under  Commodore  Hull.  I  should  fret  my  heart  out 
there  in  a  week  suffering  such  an  indignity ;  yet  that's  what  the 
Navy  Department  proposes  doing  with  me." 

"They  shall  not  do  it,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  jumping  up.  "I 
have  not  forgotten  how  you  helped  me  to  save  Fort  Pickens  to  the 
Union." 

"Yes,"  said  the  President,  "and  got  me  into  hot  water  with 
Mr.  Welles,  for  which  I  think  he  has  never  forgiven  me.  I  believe 
he  would  forget  it,  but,  Seward,  you  won't  let  him.  You  are 
always  flaunting  your  claimed  success  in  his  face,  and  deprecating 
the  Fort  Sumter  expedition  ;  it's  like  shaking  a  red  rag  at  a  bull. 
If  it  hadn't  been  for  Seward,  Captain,  Mr.  Welles  would  have  tried 
you  by  court-martial  for  disobeying  Seward's  telegram,  although 
you  were  simply  carrying  out  my  written  orders — a  fact  which  none 
of  us  remembered  until  you  were  beyond  our  reach." 

"You  were  right,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  in  disobeying  my  orders, 
as  it  saved  us  Fort  Pickens." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "if  the  navy  hasn't  broken  the 
back-bone  of  the  Eebellion  I  think  it  has  come  pretty  near  doing  it, 
though,  after  all,  Vicksburg  slipped  through  our  fingers,  which 
was  a  great  disappointment  to  me,  realizing,  as  I  do,  its  great  im 
portance  as  a  depot  of  supplies  to  the  Confederates  ;  however,  if  I 
live,  you  shall  be  at  the  taking  of  the  place." 

The  President  then  made  me  describe  the  battle  at  the  passage 
of  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip,  making  his  usual  shrewd  com 
ments  on  the  matter. 

"I  read  all  about  it,"  he  said;  "how  the  ships  went  up  in 
line,  firing  their  broadsides ;  how  the  mortars  pitched  into  the 
forts  ;  how  the  forts  pitched  into  the  ships,  and  the  ships  into  the 
rams,  and  the  rams  into  the  gun-boats,  and  the  gun-boats  into  the 
fire-rafts,  and  the  fire-rafts  into  the  ships.  Of  course  I  couldn't 
understand  it  all,  but  enough  to  know  that  it  was  a  great  victory. 
It  reminds  me,"  continued  the  President,  "of  a  fight  in  a  bar-room 
at  Natchez,  but  I  won't  tell  that  now. 


COMMAND  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  SQUADRON.          121 

"It  struck  me,"  continued  the  President,  "  that  the  fight  at  the 
forts  was  something  like  the  Natchez  scrimmage,  only  a  little  more 
so." 

"Mr.  President,"  I  said,  "that  achievement  of  Farragut's  is 
the  most  important  event  of  the  war,  and  all  that  he  has  received 
for  it  is  a  vote  of  thanks  of  Congress.  The  British  Government 
would  have  loaded  him  with  honors  and  emoluments." 

' '  How  is  that,  Seward  ?  "  said  the  President. 

"I  don't  know  anything  about  it,"  said  the  Secretary  of  State. 
"I  am  not  the  head  of  the  Navy  Department." 

"No,"  replied  the  President,  "but  you  don't  mind  running  off 
with  a  navy-ship  when  it  suits  your  purposes." 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  when  I  know  it  is  the  only  way 
to  save  the  honor  of  the  nation ;  but  Farragut  will  not  be  forgotten." 

The  President  then  summoned  a  messenger  and  said,  "  Go  tell 
the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  that  I  wish  to  see  him  at  once." 

I  took  my  leave  on  the  plea  that  I  had  to  catch  the  train  for 
Newport. 

"  Good-by,"  said  the  President ;  "  you  sha'n't  go  to  St.  Louis, 
you  sha'n't  resign,  and  you  shall  be  at  Vicksburg  when  it  falls. " 

When  I  reached  my  lodgings  in  Newport  I  found  a  telegram 
awaiting  me — 

"  Proceed  to  Washington  without  delay  and  report  in  person 
to  the  department.  9  GIDEON  WELLES." 

"Well,"  I  exclaimed,  "here  we  go  this  time  to  Fort  Lafayette  !" 
But  I  immediately  returned  to  Washington  in  obedience  to  my 
orders. 

When  I  was  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  that  high  functionary  smiled  on  me  benignly,  gave  me  his 
two  fingers  to  squeeze,  and  asked  me  to  be  seated.  My  heart  ex 
panded  so  at  my  cordial  reception  that  I  felt  like  embracing  the 
venerable  statesman,  for  I  thought  at  least  I  would  be  allowed  a 
cell  to  myself  at  Fort  Lafayette ;  but  he  didn't  give  me  time  to 
think  much,  as  he  handed  me  a  sealed  document. 

I  opened  it  with  the  air  of  a  philosopher,  determined  to  show 
the  hard-hearted  old  gentleman  that  I  was  indifferent  to  my  fate, 
and  read — 

"  You  have  been  appointed  to  command  the  Mississippi  squad 
ron,  and  you  will  proceed  at  once  to  Mound  City,  Illinois,  and  relieve 
Flag-Officer  Davis,  etc.  GIDEON  WELLES." 


122    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  did  not  give  way  to  any  visible  emotion,  merely  repeating 
aloud,  "  There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,"  etc.  After  con 
gratulating  me,  the  secretary  invited  me  to  call  and  see  him  at  his 
house. 

As  I  came  out  of  the  secretary's  office  I  met  the  bureau  offi 
cers,  and  they  shook  me  warmly  by  the  hand.  Fox  was  delighted  to 
see  me.  Faxon,  the  chief  clerk,  smiled  the  first  time  for  weeks.  I 
had  been  "  selected  by  the  President !  "  I  had  friends  at  court ! 
Human  nature  is  everywhere  the  same,  even  in  the  little  semblance 
of  a  court  which  we  try  to  maintain.  Every  one  notices  when  the 
President  nods,  and  what  it  means,  and  the  man  who  receives  his 
approval  is  patronized  at  once. 

What  a  difference  there  was  between  this  reception  and  the  one 
I  experienced  two  days  previous  !  Then  I  was  almost  driven  to  re 
sign.  Now  I  was  a  flag  officer,  with  the  title  of  Acting  Rear- Ad 
miral.  Let  those  laugh  who  win.  I  won  in  spite  of  many  obsta 
cles,  and  enjoyed  my  victory  amazingly. 

I  called  with  Mr.  Fox  on  the  President,  and  found  him,  as  usual, 
in  excellent  humor. 

"I  promised  you,"  he  said  to  me,  "  that  you  should  see  Vicks- 
burg  fall,  and  now  you  shall  do  it.  I  want  to  ask  you  something 
about  your  plans,  for,  knowing  all  about  the  place,  I  suppose  your 
measures  for  capturing  it  must  be  matured  by  this  time. 

I  assured  the  President  that  my  plans  were  very  simple.  A  large 
naval  force,  a  strong  body  of  troops,  and  patience,  were  the  only 
means  of  capturing  Vicksburg. 

"  There  was  a  time  not  long  ago,"  I  said,  "  when  Vicksburg 
could  have  been  easily  captured,  but  it  is  now  a  second  Gibraltar, 
and  the  navy  alone  could  do  nothing  toward  capturing  it." 

"Well,"  said  the  President,  "whom  do  you  think  is  the  gen 
eral  for  such  an  occasion  ?  " 

"  General  Grant,  sir.  Vicksburg  is  within  his  department ;  but  I 
presume  he  will  send  Sherman  there,  who  is  equal  to  any  occasion. " 

"  Well,  Admiral,"  said  the  President,  "  I  have  in  my  mind  a 
better  general  than  either  of  them  ;  that  is  McClernand,  an  old  and 
intimate  friend  of  mine." 

"I  don't  know  him,  Mr.  President,"  I  said. 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  don't  know  McClernand  ? 
Why,  he  saved  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  when  the  case  seemed  hopeless ! " 
(I  suppose  McClernand  told  him  so.) 

"  Why,  Mr.  President,"  I  replied,  "  the  general  impression  is 


INTERVIEW  WITH  GENERAL   McCLERNAND.         123 

that  Grant  won  the  battle  of  Shiloh  ;  as  he  commanded  the  army, 
he  would  seem  entitled  to  the  credit." 

"  No,"  said  the  President,  "  McClernand  did  it ;  he  is  a  natural- 
born  general." 

"Well,  Mr.  President,  with  all  due  deference  to  you,  I  don't 
believe  in  natural-born  generals  except  where  they  have  had  proper 
military  training,  and  it  seems  to  me  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  is  too 
important  a  matter  to  trust  to  anybody  except  a  scientific  military 
man  ;  besides,  if  you  take  troops  from  Grant  and  Sherman  to  give 
them  to  McClernand,  you  will  weaken  the  army." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  the  President,  "  I  don't  mean  to  do  that.  Mc 
Clernand  is  to  go  to  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  raise  troops  there  for 
the  capture  of  Yicksburg.  In  the  mean  time  you  can  prepare  to 
co-operate  with  him." 

These  last  words  of  the  President  were  a  great  relief  to  me,  for  I 
knew  it  would  take  some  time  to  raise  an  army  in  the  way  proposed. 

"Now,"  said  the  President,  "I  will  give  you  a  note  of  intro 
duction  to  McClernand.  I  want  you  to  talk  the  matter  over  with 
him  before  you  leave  Washington ."  He  wrote  the  note,  gave  it  to 
me,  and  I  left  with  Mr.  Fox. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  that  plan  ?  "  I  said  to  Fox,  when  we 
were  outside. 

"Well,  I  don't  know,"  he  replied  ;  "but,  after  you  have  talked 
with  McClernand,  suppose  you  stop  in  and  tell  me  what  you  think  of 
him." 

I  found  the  general  at  his  hotel,  and  he  talked  in  the  most  san 
guine  manner  of  taking  Vicksburg  in  a  week  ! 

I  listened  to  him  attentively,  but,  as  I  did  not  exactly  take  in  all 
the  military  points,  I  left  him  after  he  had  informed  me  he  had 
already  received  orders  to  enlist  an  army  at  Springfield,  Illinois, 
and  command  it  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg. 

I  stopped  in  to  see  Fox,  who  said,  "  Well,  what  do  you  think  of 
General  McClernand  ?" 

"  I  could  form  no  opinion  of  him,"  I  said.      "  Good-by." 

"Are  you  not  going  to  see  the  President  again  before  you  leave 
Washington  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"No,"  I  replied,  "I  leave  for  Cairo,  Illinois,  in  two  hours, 
to  see  Grant.  McClernand  is  going  to  Springfield  to  raise  troops. 
He  is  shortly  to  be  married,  and  if  he  proposes  to  recruit  an  army 
in  that  way,  I  think  it  will  be  hardly  worth  while  to  wait  for  him." 


124:  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Now  all  you  old  fellows  who  have  studied  the  laws, 
And  who  make  a  good  living  by  quibbles  and  flaws, 
Who  ne'er  had  a  gun  or  a  sword  in  your  paws, 

Deceiving  whose  trade  is, 

Old  men  and  old  ladies, 

Don't  mount  heavy  boots  and  a  long  "  yaller  "  sash, 
Or  expose  your  rich  coat,  or  bright  sdbretaclie, 
In  battle  or  skirmish,  or  where  there's  a  chance 
Of  a  shot  from  a  pistol  or  a  poke  from  a  lance. 
Be  wise,  stay  at  home,  read  Blackstone  and  Wheaton, 
And  study  Coke's  tactics,  where  you  can  not  be  beaten. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

INTERVIEW  WITH  GENERAL  GRANT  AT  CAIRO — FIRST  MEETING 
WITH  GENERAL  SHERMAN — OUR  FLAG  HOISTED  OVER  ARKANSAS 
POST— GENERAL  GRANT  AND  THE  SIEGE  OF  VICKSBURG— HOAX 
ON  THE  VICKSBURGERS. 

I  ASSUMED  command  of  the  Mississippi  Squadron  at  Cairo,  Illi 
nois,  in  October,  1862.  There  were  the  sturdy  ironclads  that  had 
fought  their  way  from  Fort  Henry  to  Donaldson,  to  Island  No.  10, 
and  White  River,  and  destroyed  the  enemy's  navy  at  Memphis.  All 
had  done  good  service  under  their  gallant  commanders,  Foote  and 
Davis. 

The  Benton,  Carondelet,  Cairo,  Baron  de  Kalb,  Mound  City,  and 
Cincinnati  were  designed  and  constructed  by  that  universal  genius, 
James  B.  Eads,  in  less  than  three  months,  and  became  famous  in 
the  annals  of  the  navy.  Besides  these  were  the  Tyler,  Conestoga, 
and  Lexington. 

See  the  old  warriors  out  in  the  stream, 
Open  in  many  a  wood-end  and  seam ! 

As  soon  as  I  arrived,  the  ironclads  were  put  in  the  hands  of  five 
hundred  loyal  mechanics,  and  in  a  week  were  ready  for  any  service. 

The  rest  of  the  vessels  under  my  command  were  not  very  formi 
dable,  consisting  of  some  side-wheel  river  steamboats  and  three  or 


GENERAL  GRANT  AT  CAIRO.  125 

four  ' ( tin-clads,"  and  this  was  the  force  with  which  the  nayy  was 
expected  to  batter  down  Vicksburg. 

Soon  after  my  arrival  at  Cairo  I  sent  a  messenger  to  General 
Grant  informing  him  that  I  had  taken  command  of  the  naval 
forces,  and  should  be  happy  to  co-operate  with  him  in  any  enter 
prise  he  might  think  proper  to  undertake.  I  also  informed  him 
that  General  McClernand  had  orders  to  raise  troops  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  prior  to  undertaking  the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  I  thought 
it  my  duty  to  tell  him  this,  as  it  was  not  information  given  to  me 
in  confidence. 

Several  weeks  later  Captain  McAllister,  quartermaster  at  Cairo, 
gave  a  supper  party  to  me  and  the  officers  on  the  station  on  board 
the  quartermaster's  steamer,  a  large,  comfortable  river  boat. 

Supper  had  been  served  when  I  saw  Captain  McAllister  usher 
in  a  travel-worn  person  dressed  in  citizen's  clothes.  McAllister 
was  a  very  tall  man,  and  his  companion  was  dwarfed  by  his  supe 
rior  size.  McAllister  introduced  the  gentleman  to  me  as  General 
Grant,  and  placed  us  at  a  table  by  ourselves  and  left  us  to  talk 
matters  over. 

Grant,  though  evidently  tired  and  hungry,  commenced  business 
at  once.  "Admiral,"  he  inquired,  "what  is  all  this  you  have 
been  writing  me  ?  " 

I  gave  the  general  an  account  of  my  interviews  with  the  Presi 
dent  and  with  General  McClernand,  and  he  inquired,  "  When  can 
you  move  with  your  gun-boats,  and  what  force  have  you  ?  " 

"  I  can  move  to-morrow  with  all  the  old  gun-boats  and  five  or 
six  other  vessels  ;  also  the  Tyler,  Conestoga,  and  Lexington." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Grant,  "I  will  leave  you  now  and  write  at 
once  to  Sherman  to  have  thirty  thousand  infantry  and  artillery 
embarked  in  transports  ready  to  start  for  Vicksburg  the  moment 
you  get  to  Memphis.  I  will  return  to  Holly  Springs  to-night,  and 
will  start  with  a  large  force  for  Grenada  as  soon  as  I  can  get  off. 

"  General  Joe  Johnston  is  near  Vicksburg  with  forty  thousand 
men,  besides  the  garrison  of  the  place  under  General  Pemberton. 
When  Johnston  hears  I  am  marching  on  Grenada,  he  will  come 
from  Vicksburg  to  meet  me  and  check  my  advance.  I  will  hold 
him  at  Grenada  while  you  and  Sherman  push  on  down  the  Missis 
sippi  and  make  a  landing  somewhere  on  the  Yazoo.  The  garrison 
afc  Vicksburg  will  be  small,  and  Sherman  will  have  no  difficulty  in 
getting  inside  the  works.  When  that  is  done  I  will  force  Johnston 
out  of  Grenada,  and,  as  he  falls  back  on  Vicksburg,  will  follow 


126   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

him  up  with  a  superior  force.  "When  he  finds  Vicksburg  is  occu 
pied,  he  will  retreat  via  Jackson." 

I  thought  this  plan  an  admirable  one.  Grant  and  myself  never 
indulged  in  long  talks  together ;  it  was  only  necessary  for  him  to 
tell  me  what  he  desired,  and  I  carried  out  his  wishes  to  the  best  of 
my  ability. 

General  Grant  started  that  night  for  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi, 
and,  I  believe,  rode  on  horseback  nearly  all  the  way,  while  I  broke 
up  the  supper  party  by  ordering  every  officer  to  his  post  of  duty, 
to  be  ready  to  start  down  the  river  next  day  at  noon. 

And  this  was  the  preliminary  step  to  the  capture  of  Vicksburg. 

Grant,  in  his  plain,  dusty  coat,  was,  in  my  eyes,  a  greater  gen 
eral  than  the  man  who  rides  around, 

All  feathers  and  fuss. 

Here  in  twenty  minutes  Grant  unfolded  his  plan  of  campaign, 
involving  the  transportation  of  over  one  hundred  thousand  men, 
and,  with  a  good  supper  staring  him  in  the  face,  proposed  to  ride 
back  again  over  a  road  he  had  just  traveled  without  tasting  a 
mouthful,  his  cigar  serving,  doubtless,  for  food  and  drink. 

Three  days  after,  with  all  the  naval  forces,  I  started  down  the 
Mississippi,  and  at  Memphis  found  General  Sherman  embarking  his 
troops  on  a  long  line  of  river  steamers,  and  sent  word  to  the  general 
that  I  would  call  upon  him  at  his  headquarters. 

Thinking  it  probable  that  Sherman  would  be  dressed  in  full 
feather,  I  put  on  my  uniform  coat,  the  splendor  of  which  rivaled 
that  of  a  drum-major.  Sherman,  hearing  that  I  was  indifferent  to 
appearances  and  generally  dressed  in  working-clothes,  thought  he 
would  not  annoy  me  by  fixing  up,  and  so  kept  on  his  blue  flannel 
suit ;  and  we  met,  both  a  little  surprised  at  the  appearance  of  the 
other. 

" Halloo,  Porter,"  said  the  general,  "I  am  glad  to  see  you  ;  you 
got  here  sooner  than  I  expected,  but  we'll  get  off  to-night.  Devil 
ish  cold,  isn't  it  ?  Sit  down  and  warm  up."  And  he  stirred  up 
the  coal  in  the  grate.  "Here,  captain" — to  one  of  his  aids — "tell 
General  Blair  to  get  his  men  on  board  at  once.  Tell  the  quarter 
master  to  report  as  soon  as  he  has  six  hundred  thousand  rations 
embarked.  Here,  Dick" — to  his  servant — "put  me  up  some  shirts 
and  under-clothes  in  a  bag,  and  don't  bother  me  with  a  trunk  and 
traps  enough  for  a  regiment.  Here,  Captain " — another  aid — "tell 
the  steamboat  captains  to  have  steam  up  at  six  o'clock,  and  to  lay 


MEETING  WITH   GENERAL   SHERMAN.  127 

in  plenty  of  fuel,  for  I'm  not  going  to  stop  every  few  hours  to  cut 
wood.  Tell  the  officer  in  charge  of  embarkation  to  allow  no  pick 
ing  and  choosing  of  boats  ;  the  generals  in  command  must  take 
what  is  given  them  —  there,'  that  will  do.  Glad  to  see  you,  Porter  ; 
how's  Grant?" 

This  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  met  General  Sherman,  and  my 
impressions  of  him  were  very  favorable.  I  thought  myself  lucky 
to  have  two  such  generals  as  Grant  and  Sherman  to  co-operate  with. 

I  soon  returned  to  my  flag-ship,  the  Black  Hawk,  and  gave  Cap 
tain  Walke  orders  to  proceed  with  several  vessels  to  the  Yazoo 
River,  take  possession  of  the  landings  in  order  to  prevent  the  erec 
tion  of  batteries,  and  drag  the  river  above  Chickasaw  Bayou  for 
torpedoes.  Captain  Walke  was  directed  to  use  all  possible  expedi 
tion,  so  as  to  reach  the  Yazoo  at  least  a  day  in  advance  of  us. 

We  departed  from  Memphis  as  arranged,  and  reached  the  Yazoo 
in  good  time.  The  Cairo,  one  of  my  best  ironclads,  had  been 
blown  up  while  grappling  for  torpedoes  ;  but  the  landing  of  Sher 
man's  army  had  been  secured. 

The  rest  is  a  matter  of  history,  and  is  registered  in  the  chron 
icles  of  the  times  with  many  variations  and  not  a  few  misrepresen 
tations.  The  reporters  who  followed  the  army  did  not  all  confine 
themselves  to  the  truth,  and  when  I  asked  one  of  them,  on  a  cer 
tain  occasion,  why  he  did  not  state  facts  as  they  occurred,  he  re 
plied  : 

"If  I  stated  facts  I  would  lose  my  place,  for  nothing  but  sensa 
tional  articles  will  satisfy  the  public." 

We  reached  Chickasaw  Bayou  in  safety,  but  the  army  did  not 
get  much  farther. 

Grant's  plans  were  well  laid  —  "man  proposes  but  God  disposes" 
—  and  the  plans  were  unsuccessful  after  all. 

When  Grant  started  from  Holly  Springs  he  left  behind  him  a 
large  depot  of  stores  on  which  his  army  depended  for  supplies,  and 
marched  on  Grenada  with  a  force  (I  think)  of  sixty  thousand  men. 

General  Pemberton,  as  soon  as  he  learned  of  this  movement, 
saw  that  he  would  be  locked  up  in  Yicksburg  if  he  let  Grant  get  to 
the  rear  of  that  place,  and  his  plan,  therefore,  was  to  check  Grant's 
advance  until  other  troops  could  be  sent  by  rail  to  re-enforce  Vicks- 


Grant  and  Pemberton  were  marching  toward  each  other  as  fast 
as  possible,  when  the  ubiquitous  General  Van  Dorn  got  in  Grant's 
rear  and  destroyed  his  supplies  at  Holly  Springs. 


128   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  believe,  however,  that  Grant  had  partly  accomplished  his  ob 
ject  by  drawing  Pemberton  a  long  way  from  Vicksburg,  with  the 
idea  that,  in  the  latter's  absence,  General  Sherman  would  have  com 
paratively  little  trouble  in  getting  into  the  city. 

No  one,  at  that  time,  had  any  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  de 
fenses  that  had  been  erected  in  every  quarter  to  keep  a  foe  out  of 
Vicksburg,  as  if  the  Titans  had  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  rebel 
stronghold. 

Sherman  at  every  point  encountered  obstacles  of  which  he  had 
never  dreamed.  Forests  had  been  cut  down  in  the  line  of  Chicka- 
saw  Bayou,  and  through  the  chevaux-de-frise  the  soldiers,  standing 
up  to  their  waists  in  water,  had  to  cut  their  way  with  axes  across 
the  dismal  swamps.  All  this,  of  course,  took  time ;  there  seemed 
to  be  no  other  route  to  Vicksburg.  Haines's  Bluff  had  been  forti 
fied  so  that  no  troops  could  pass  in  that  direction  without  it  was 
first  reduced  by  the  gun-boats.  Every  available  soldier  in  Vicks 
burg  had  been  brought  to  the  point  where  Sherman  was  making  his 
approaches,  and  they  worked  like  devils. 

Old  Clootie  was  there  in  his  vigor  and  might ; 

He  held  the  bottle  and  urged  on  the  fight, 

As  he  dashed  with  his  imps  o'er  the  blood-sprinkled  plain, 

His  horses'  hoofs  trampling  the  wounded  and  slain. 

"What  cared  he  who  died  in  their  vigor  and  sin, 

As  long  as  the  devil  and  imps  could  but  win  ? 

On  the  first  sight  of  the  gun-boats  clearing  out  the  Yazoo,  the 
officer  in  command  at  Vicksburg  saw  through  the  whole  plan,  and 
telegraphed  at  once  to  General  Pemberton,  who  immediately  hurried 
back  to  Vicksburg,  while  Grant  returned  to  Holly  Springs. 

Had  not  General  Sherman  been  stopped  by  unforeseen  obstacles, 
he  would  have  captured  the  Southern  Gibraltar ;  but  the  impedi 
ments  which  an  energetic  adversary  threw  in  the  way  disconcerted 
all  his  plans. 

To  add  to  Sherman's  difficulties,  the  rain  came  on — and  such  a 
rain  !  The  heavens  seemed  trying  to  drown  our  army  ;  the  naval 
vessels  and  transports  were  the  only  arks  of  safety.  The  level  lands 
were  inundated,  and  there  were  three  feet  of  water  in  the  swamps 
where  our  army  was  operating. 

Notwithstanding  this  dismal  situation  of  affairs,  Sherman  or 
dered  an  assault  on  the  enemy's  works.  Part  of  General  Blair's  and 
part  of  another  division  reached  the  interior  of  the  works  and  held 
them  for  a  time. 


SECOND   CAMPAIGN   AGAINST   VICKSBURG.  129 

The  tables  were  soon  turned,  for,  just  as  victory  seemed  to 
crown  our  arms,  General  Pemberton  appeared  on  the  scene  with  his 
army,  just  returned  from  Grenada,  and  drove  our  small  body  of 
men  out  of  the  works  back  to  the  place  from  which  they  started. 

That  ended  the  second  campaign  against  Vicksburg,  and  our 
disheartened  troops  returned  to  the  transports,  where  they  were  free 
from  attack,  as  the  enemy  could  not  follow  them  through  the  waste 
of  waters  between  their  fortifications  and  the  gun-boats.  We  picked 
up  all  that  we  had  landed,  including  an  old,  worthless  horse,  deter 
mined  that  the  enemy  should  have  no  more  than  we  could  help. 

It  was  still  raining,  and  the  current  ran  so  strong  in  the  river 
that  the  vessels  had  to  be  fastened  securely  to  the  trees.  The  wind 
howled  like  a  legion  of  devils,  though  which  side  it  was  howling  for 
I  have  no  idea. 

That  night  General  Sherman  came  on  board  my  flag-ship, 
drenched  to  the  skin.  He  looked  as  if  he  had  been  grappling  with 
the  mud,  and  got  the  worst  of  it. 

He  sat  down  and  remained  silent  for  some  minutes. 

"  You  are  out  of  sorts,"  I  said,  at  length.  "What  is  the  mat 
ter?" 

"I  have  lost  seventeen  hundred  men,  and  those  infernal  re 
porters  will  publish  all  over  the  country  their  ridiculous  stories 
about  Sherman  being  whipped,  etc." 

"  Only  seventeen  hundred  men  !  "  I  said.  "  Pshaw  !  that  is 
nothing ;  simply  an  episode  in  the  war.  You'll  lose  seventeen 
thousand  before  the  war  is  over,  and  will  think  nothing  of  it. 
We'll  have  Yicksburg  yet  before  we  die. — Steward,  bring  some 
punch  for  the  general  and  myself." 

"That's  good  sense,  Porter!"  exclaimed  the  general,  "and  I 
am  glad  to  see  you  are  not  disheartened  ;  but  what  shall  we  do 
now  ?  I  must  take  my  boys  somewhere  and  wipe  this  out." 

I  informed  the  general  that  I  was  ready  to  go  anywhere. 

"Then,"  said  he,  "let's  go  and  thrash  out  Arkansas  Post." 
And  it  was  arranged  that  we  should  start  next  morning  for  that 
place.  This  attempt  on  Yicksburg  gave  occasion  for  some  fine 
strategy  on  both  sides. 

Had  General  Grant  determined  in  the  first  instance  to  advance 
on  Vicksburg,  leaving  a  sufficient  force  of  men  at  Holly  Springs  to 
protect  the  place,  no  doubt  Vicksburg  would  have  fallen  ;  but  he 
had  every  reason  to  believe  that,  with  the  plans  he  had  made,  Sher 
man  would  get  in.  The  appointed  time  had  evidently  not  arrived* 


130   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

and  it  was  necessary  that  a  final  demonstration  of  the  power  and 
determination  of  the  Federal  Government  should  be  made,  to  sat 
isfy  the  Southern  people  that  none  of  their  strongholds  could 
finally  prevail  against  the  Union  forces,  and  that  no  earthly  power 
could  dismember  the  Union, 

For  God  in  his  wisdom  had  devised  the  hest  plan 
For  the  union  of  States  and  the  freedom  of  man. 

Next  morning  a  colonel,  dressed  in  a  new  suit  of  uniform, 
sought  an  interview  with  me.  I  knew  he  could  not  belong  to  Sher 
man's  army,  for  all  his  officers  had  long  ago  worn  the  brightness 
from  their  accoutrements. 

"I  come,"  said  he,  "from  General  McClernand,  who  is  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yazoo  Kiver,  and  wants  you  to  call  and  see  him  as 
soon  as  possible." 

"Well,"  thinks  I  to  myself,  "that's  cool!"  "You  can  tell 
the  general,"  I  said,  "that  my  duties  at  present  are  so  engrossing 
that  I  am  making  no  calls,  and  that  it  is  his  place  to  come  and  see 
me.  What  is  the  general  doing,  and  how  did  he  get  here  ?  " 

"He  has  come,"  said  the  officer,  "to  take  command  of  the 
army;  he  took  passage  down  in  one  of  your  ram  gun-boats." 

Here  was  a  pretty  kettle  of  fish  !  I  bade  the  officer  good-morn 
ing  and  he  took  his  departure. 

Just  then  I  saw  General  Sherman  in  a  small  boat  pulled  by  two 
soldiers.  I  hailed  him,  and  when  he  was  near  enough  I  said, 
"  Sherman,  McClernand  is  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  waiting  to 
take  command  of  your  army  ! " 

Sherman  looked  serious  as  he  inquired,  "Are  you  going  to  call 
on  him  ?  " 

"No,"  I  replied,  "I  am  not  making  calls  just  now." 

"  But  I  must,"  said  Sherman,  "  for  he  ranks  me." 

In  two  hours  General  Sherman  returned  with  General  McCler 
nand,  and  I  received  the  latter  on  board  the  flag-ship  with  all  due 
courtesy,  and  inquired  if  he  had  brought  an  army  with  him  and 
siege-tools  to  insure  the  fall  of  Vicksburg. 

"No,"  replied  McClernand,  "but  I  find  this  army  in  a  most 
demoralized  state,  and  I  must  do  something  to  raise  their  spirits." 

"Then,  sir,"  I  said,  "you  take  command  of  this  army  ?" 

"  Certainly,"  he  replied  ;  "  and  if  you  will  let  me  have  some  of 
your  gun -boats,  I  propose  to  proceed  immediately  and  capture  Ar 
kansas  Post." 


OUR   FLAG   OVER   ARKANSAS  POST.  131 

Sherman  made  a  remark  the  purport  of  which  I  have  forgotten, 
but  McClernand  made  a  discourteous  reply,  whereupon  Sherman 
walked  off  into  the  after-cabin.  I  was  angry  that  any  one  should 
dare  treat  General  Sherman  with  discourtesy  in  my  cabin. 

I  informed  General  McClernand  that  the  proposition  to  capture 
Arkansas  Post  had  been  broached  by  General  Sherman  the  previous 
evening,  and  that  I  never  let  my  gun-boats  go  on  such  an  important 
expedition  without  me.  "If,"  I  said,  "General  Sherman  goes  in 
command  of  this  army,  I  will  go  along  with  my  whole  force  and 
make  a  sure  thing  of  it ;  otherwise  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  affair." 

Just  then  Sherman  beckoned  to  me,  and  I  went  in  to  him. 
"My  God,  Porter  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "you  will  ruin  yourself  if  you 
talk  that  way  to  McClernand  ;  he  is  very  intimate  with  the  Presi 
dent,  and  has  powerful  influence." 

"  I  don't  care  who  or  what  he  is,  he  shall  not  be  rude  to  you  in 
my  cabin,"  I  replied. 

"  Did  you  understand  my  proposition,  General  McClernand  ?  " 
I  inquired,  on  my  return  to  the  forward  cabin — he  was  at  that 
moment  consulting  a  map  which  lay  on  the  table. 

"Yes,"  said  McClernand,  "I  understand  it,  and  agree  to  it. 
There  is  no  objection,  I  suppose,  to  my  going  along  ?  " 

"None  in  the  world,"  I  answered,  "only  be  it  understood  that 
General  Sherman  is  to  command  this  army." 

We  started  as  soon  as  possible  and  arrived  at  "the  Post,"  a  fort, 
mounting  eleven  heavy  guns,  on  the  Arkansas  River.  I  attacked  it 
with  three  ironclads  and  several  smaller  vessels,  and  in  three  hours 
disabled  all  the  guns.  General  Sherman  surrounded  the  place 
with  his  troops,  and,  after  heavy  losses,  it  surrendered — the  fort,  in 
charge  of  naval  officers,  to  me,  and  the  Confederate  army  of  six 
thousand  men,  under  General  Churchill,  to  General  Sherman. 

Our  flag  was  no  sooner  hoisted  over  Arkansas  Post — January  11, 
1863 — than  General  McClernand  assumed  command  of  the  army 
and  wrote  the  report  of  the  capture — a  most  ungenerous  thing  for 
him  to  do  under  the  circumstances. 

The  moment  the  prisoners  were  secured  and  the  fort  rendered 
untenable  General  McClernand  ordered  the  army  to  proceed  to 
Vicksburg,  and  I  went  in  company,  sending  a  message  in  advance 
to  General  Grant  that  I  anticipated  no  good  results  from  McCler- 
nand's  commanding  the  army,  that  it  was  unjust  to  Sherman,  that 
I  was  certain  McClernand  and  myself  could  never  co-operate  har- 


132    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

moniously,  and  I  hoped  he  would  come  and  take  command  himself. 
I  do  not  know  that  General  Grant  ever  received  my  message,  but 
we  had  hardly  landed  the  troops  on  the  bend  opposite  Vicksburg 
when  he  appeared  and  assumed  command  of  the  army,  and  the 
third  attack  on  the  rebel  stronghold  immediately  commenced. 

The  siege  was  conducted  with  great  perseverance  on  our  side 
and  with  great  bravery  and  endurance  on  the  other,  and  when 
Pemberton  surrendered — July  4,  1863 — there  was  nothing  left  for 
the  subsistence  of  the  soldiers  or  the  inhabitants. 

An  elaborate  history  of  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  would  be  a  most 
interesting  military  work,  but  to  write  it  would  require  much  time 
and  research,  and  a  consultation  not  only  of  official  documents  but 
of  the  experience  of  the  principal  officers  on  both  sides  who  were 
engaged  in  this  memorable  struggle. 

General  Grant  has  gained  a  world-wide  reputation  for  his  mili 
tary  achievements,  but  I  think  no  event  conferred  more  credit  on 
him  than  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  against  the  most  formidable  series 
of  earthworks  ever  erected  on  this  continent. 

I  saw  the  celebrated  Malakoff  and  the  Redan  two  days  after 
they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  allied  English  and  French  army,  and 
they  were  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  defenses  of  Vicksburg. 

Grant's  action  in  turning  the  flank  at  Vicksburg  with  but 
fifty  -  six  thousand  men,  and  defeating  two  armies  aggregating 
eighty  thousand  strong,  forms  one  of  the  most  remarkable  chapters 
in  the  history  of  the  civil  war. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  of  the  accounts  that  were  written  of 
the  events  transpiring  around  Vicksburg  during  the  siege  did  jus 
tice  to  the  subject,  and  I  am  sorry  that  the  limit  of  these  pages 
will  prevent  my  giving  even  an  outline  of  this  remarkable  siege. 

Having  encamped  directly  opposite  to  Vicksburg,  our  army  had 
a  good  opportunity  of  contemplating  the  task  before  it. 

It  was  evident  that  the  place  could  not  be  taken  from  the  front ; 
the  rebel  army  and  the  inhabitants  were  receiving  all  the  supplies 
they  wanted,  not  only  via  Jackson  but  by  steamers  from  Eed  River. 
It  was  desirable  to  stop  this  communication. 

I  had  under  my  command  a  semi-naval  organization  called  the 
"Marine  Brigade,"  which  had  done  good  service  at  Memphis  and 
elsewhere.  Several  of  the  vessels  in  this  organization  were  com 
manded  by  members  of  the  Ellet  family,  the  senior  member  of 
which,  Brigadier-General  A.  W.  Ellet,  commanded  the  brigade. 

Colonel  Charles  Ellet,  Jr.,  a  young  man  of  twenty-two,  com- 


TREACHERY   OF   A   PILOT  AT   FORT   DE   RUSSY.      133 

manded  the  Queen  of  the  West,  a  ram  improvised  from  a  river 
steamboat. 

I  ordered  young  Ellet  to  pass  the  batteries  of  Vicksburg  at 
night,  proceed  to  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  intercept  the  supplies 
for  Yicksburg  and  Port  Hudson,  and  capture  everything  he  could 
overtake. 

I  don't  know  whether  it  was  from  love  of  glory  or  from  want  of 
judgment,  but,  instead  of  taking  advantage  of  the  darkness  to  run 
the  batteries,  Ellet  chose  early  daylight,  got  well  hammered  as  he 
passed  the  forts,  and  nearly  defeated  the  object  of  the  expedition. 
Not  being  accustomed  to  strict  discipline,  Ellet  did  not  realize  the 
necessity  of  carrying  out  his  orders  to  the  letter. 

After  Colonel  Ellet  reached  Red  River  he  captured  several 
steamers  loaded  with  provisions  for  Port  Hudson,  and  having  on 
board  a  number  of  Confederate  officers ;  and  hearing  that  other 
steamers  were  on  their  way  down  Red  River,  his  youthful  ardor  led 
him  to  go  on  up  that  stream. 

He  arrived  at  Fort  De  Russy,  and  there,  by  the  treachery  of  his 
pilot,  was  run  on  shore  near  the  batteries.  The  enemy  opened  fire 
on  the  Queen  of  the  West,  killing  and  wounding  numbers  of  the 
crew  and  cutting  the  steam-pipe.  The  vessel  was  now  helpless,  and 
Ellet  and  all  his  officers  and  men  who  were  able  jumped  overboard 
and  drifted  down  the  river  to  a  point  where  one  of  their  prizes  lay, 
got  on  board  of  her,  and  made  their  escape. 

In  the  mean  time  I  had  prepared  the  ironclad  Indianola  and 
gent  her  down  to  assist  the  Queen  of  the  West.  The  Indianola 
passed  the  batteries  at  night  with  little  damage,  and  met  Colonel 
Ellet  and  his  men  coming  up  in  their  prize  steamer  Xew  Era. 

The  Indianola,  with  two  coal-barges  in  tow,  continued  down 
until  she  reached  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  then  turned  back  and 
proceeded  up  river  again  until  near  the  plantation  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Davis,  the  brother  of  the  Confederate  President. 

At  daylight  next  morning,  after  the  Queen  of  the  West  had  been 
abandoned,  the  Confederates  took  possession  and  soon  repaired 
damages. 

The  Confederate  ram  Webb  joined  the  Queen  of  the  West  from 
Alexandria,  and  the  two  vessels,  well  manned  and  armed,  proceeded 
in  search  of  the  Indianola,  came  up  with  her  at  Davis's  planta 
tion,  rammed  her,  and  she  ran  into  shoal  water  and  sank,  February 
24,  1863. 

We  heard  of  the  disaster  a  few  hours  after,  and  all  my  calcula- 


134:    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

tions  for  stopping  the  enemy's  supplies  were  for  the  time  frustrated  ; 
but  I  took  a  philosophical  view  of  the  matter  as  one  of  the  episodes 
of  the  war.  However,  it  was  necessary  to  try  and  prevent  the  rebels 
from  raising  the  Indianola,  and,  as  I  was  not  ready  to  go  down  the 
river  myself,  as  it  would  interfere  with  an  important  military 
movement,  I  hit  upon  a  cheap  expedient,  which  worked  very 
well. 

I  set  the  whole  squadron  at  work  and  made  a  raft  of  logs,  three 
hundred  feet  long,  with  sides  to  it,  two  huge  wheel-houses  and  a 
formidable  log  casemate,  from  the  port-holes  of  which  appeared  sun 
dry  wooden  guns.  Two  old  boats  hung  from  davits  fitted  to  the 
"ironclad,"  and  two  smoke-stacks  made  of  hogsheads  completed 
the  illusion  ;  and  on  her  wheel-houses  was  painted  the  following  : 
"Deluded  Rebels,  Cave  In  !"  An  American  flag  was  hoisted  aft, 
and  a  banner  emblazoned  with  skull  and  cross-bones  ornamented  the 
bow. 

When,  this  craft  was  completed,  she  resembled  at  a  little  dis 
tance  the  ram  Lafayette,  which  had  just  arrived  from  St.  Louis. 

The  mock  ram  was  furnished  with  a  big  iron  pot  inside  each 
smoke-stack,  in  which  was  tar  and  oakum  to  raise  a  black  smoke, 
and  at  midnight  she  was  towed  down  close  to  the  water-batteries  of 
Vicksburg  and  sent  adrift. 

It  did  not  take  the  Vicksburg  sentinels  long  to  discover  the 
formidable  monster  that  was  making  its  way  down  the  river.  The 
batteries  opened  on  her  with  vigor,  and  continued  the  fire  until  she 
had  passed  beyond  the  range  of  their  guns. 

The  Yicksburgers  had  greatly  exulted  over  the  capture  of  the 
Queen  of  the  West  and  the  Indianola ;  the  local  press  teemed  with 
accounts  of  the  daring  of  the  captors,  and  flattered  themselves  that, 
with  the  Indianola  and  Queen  of  the  West  in  their  possession,  they 
would  be  able  to  drive  the  Union  navy  out  of  the  Mississippi.  What 
was  their  astonishment  to  see  this  huge  ironclad  pass  the  batteries, 
apparently  unharmed,  and  not  even  taking  the  trouble  to  fire  a  gun  ! 

Some  of  our  soldiers  had  gone  down  to  the  point  below  Vicks 
burg  to  see  the  fun,  and  just  before  reaching  Warrenton  the  mock 
monitor  caught  the  eddy  and  turned  toward  the  bank  where  these 
men  were  gathered. 

The  soldiers  spent  several  hours  in  trying  to  shove  the  dummy 
off  into  the  stream,  when  daylight  overtook  them  in  the  midst  of 
their  work,  and  the  Queen  of  the  West,  with  the  Confederate  flag 
flying,  was  seen  coming  up  the  river  and  stopping  at  Warrenton. 


SINKING  OF  THE   INDIANOLA.  135 

As  we  afterward  learned,  she  came  up  for  pumps,  etc.,  to  raise 
the  Indianola. 

In  the  mean  while  the  military  authorities  in  Yicksburg  had  sent 
couriers  down  to  Joe  Davis's  plantation  to  inform  the  people  on 
board  the  Webb  that  a  monster  ironclad  had  passed  the  batteries 
and  would  soon  be  upon  them.  The  crew  of  the  Webb  were  busy 
in  trying  to  remove  the  guns  from  their  prize,  and,  when  they  heard 
the  news,  determined  to  blow  her  up. 

Just  after  the  Queen  of  the  West  made  the  Warrenton  landing 
the  soldiers  succeeded  in  towing  the  mock  ironclad  into  the  stream, 
and  she  drifted  rapidly  down  upon  the  rebel  prize,  whose  crew 
never  stopped  to  deliberate,  but  cut  their  fasts  and  proceeded  down 
the  river.  Their  steam  was  low,  and  for  a  time  the  mock  ironclad 
drifted  almost  as  fast  as  the  Queen  of  the  West ;  but  at  length  the 
latter  left  her  formidable  pursuer  far  behind. 

The  Queen  of  the  West  arrived  at  the  point  where  the  Indianola 
was  sunk  just  as  the  people  on  board  the  Webb  were  preparing  to 
blow  her  up,  bringing  the  news  that  the  "great  ironclad"  was 
close  behind.  So  the  Webb  cast  off  and,  with  her  consort,  made 
all  speed  down  the  river. 

The  Webb  had  been  so  greatly  injured  in  ramming  the  Indiano 
la  that  she  had  to  go  to  Shreveport  for  repairs,  and  the  Queen  of 
the  West  was  shortly  after  recaptured  and  destroyed. 

The  results  of  the  capture  of  the  Indianola  were,  however,  de 
plorable.  It  is  wonderful  how  rapidly  news  was  transmitted  along 
the  river,  and  the  Indianola  had  scarcely  sunk  before  Farragut 
heard  of  it  on  board  the  Hartford.  He  was  also  informed  that  the 
Confederates  had  raised  the  vessel  and  were  about  to  use  her  against 
his  fleet  at  Port  Hudson. 

Farragut  had  obtained  the  false  impression  that  the  Indianola 
was  a  very  powerful  vessel,  and  so  he  thought  it  necessary  to  pass 
the  batteries  at  Port  Hudson  and  encounter  her  before  she  could 
get  under  the  protection  of  the  Confederate  works  at  that  place. 

This  induced  him  to  attempt  to  run  past  Port  Hudson  with  a 
portion  of  his  fleet,  when  he  met  with  considerable  loss. 

Owing  to  the  smoke  from  the  guns  which  hung  over  the  river, 
the  pilots  could  not  see  their  way.  The  frigate  Mississippi  grounded 
opposite  the  forts,  and  there  remained,  while  the  enemy  poured 
shot  and  shell  into  her  to  their  hearts'  content. 

Her  commanding  officer  did  everything  that  was  possible  to  get 
his  vessel  off ;  but,  finding  all  his  efforts  useless,  and  that  his  offi- 


136    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

cers  and  men  were  being  sacrificed,  lie  set  fire  to  the  ship  and 
abandoned  her. 

As  the  frigate's  upper  works  were  consumed  the  ship  became 
lightened  ;  she  slid  off  the  mud-bank  and,  drifting  down  the  river, 
blew  up  with  an  awful  sound  that  carried  joy  to  the  hearts  of  the 
Confederates. 

A  thousand  memories  clustered  around  the  dear  old  ship,  and 
she  will  be  handed  down  in  history  with  the  Hartford,  whose  for 
tunes  up  to  this  time  she  had  shared. 

Only  two  of  Farragut's  vessels  passed  Port  Hudson — the  Hart 
ford,  his  flag-ship,  and  another  which  was  lashed  to  her  ;  so  he  ar 
rived  at  the  mouth  of  Eed  Eiver  with  but  a  small  portion  of  his 
fleet. 

So  much  for  the  loss  of  one  ironclad  of  which  much  was  ex 
pected  and  by  which  little  was  accomplished.  The  Indianola  lay 
imbedded  in  the  mud  until  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  when  we 
raised  her. 

The  Vicksburg  people  were  furious  at  the  trick  we  played 
them,  and  the  newspapers  reviled  their  military  authorities  for  not 
being  able  to  distinguish  an  old  raft  from  a  monster  ironclad! 
They  were  consoled,  however,  in  a  day  or  two  when  the  news  of 
the  destruction  of  the  Mississippi  reached  Vicksburg. 

Notwithstanding  their  gallant  defense,  the  garrison  of  Vicks 
burg  were  daily  growing  weaker  while  our  strength  was  all  the 
time  increasing.  They  began  to  realize  that  we  had  come  to  stay 
until  we  could  plant  the  Union  flag  over  their  stronghold. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
GENERAL  GRANT'S  PLANS  FOR  TAKING  YICKSBURG— THE  YAZOO 

PASS  EXPEDITION — NAYAL  EVOLUTIONS  IN  THE  WOODS — PILES 
OF  COTTON  BURNED  BY  THE  CONFEDERATES — MR.  TUB,  THE 
TELEGRAM-WIRE  MAN — THE  PASS  AT  ROLLING  FORK — END  OF 
THE  STEELE  BAYOU  EXPEDITION. 

I  INTENDED  by  this  time  to  have  departed  from  before  Vicks 
burg,  and  to  leave  it  to  future  scribblers  to  write  about,  as  no 
doubt  they  will  do,  just  as  tourists  visit  the  plains  of  Waterloo  to 


THE  YAZOO  PASS  EXPEDITION.  137 

pick  up  relics  and  write  an  oft-told  tale  ;  but  there  is  a  fascination 
about  the  place  (Vicksburg)  that  prevents  me  from  tearing  myself 
away. 

Everything  about  that  siege  is  an  anecdote  or  a  reminiscence 
worthy  of  being  treasured  up. 

One  of  the  liveliest  reminiscences  I  have  of  the  siege  is  what  is 
called  the  Yazoo  Pass  expedition — one  of  three  attempts  we  made 
to  get  behind  Vicksburg  with  a  fleet  of  ironclads  and  a  detachment 
of  the  army — in  which  I  have  to  say  that  we  failed  most  egregiously. 

At  one  period  of  the  siege  the  rains  had  swollen  the  Mississippi 
River  so  much  that  it  had  backed  its  waters  up  into  its  tributaries, 
which  had  risen  seventeen  feet,  and,  overflowing,  had  inundated  the 
country  for  many  miles. 

Great  forests  had  become  channels  admitting  the  passage  of 
large  steamers  between  the  trees,  and  now  and  then  wide  lanes 
were  met  with  where  a  frigate  might  have  passed. 

The  ironclads  drew  only  seven  feet  of  water  and  had  no  masts 
or  yards  to  encumber  them,  and  but  little  about  their  decks  that 
could  be  swept  away  by  the  bushes  or  lower  branches  of  the  trees. 
I  had  thoughts  of  trying  the  experiment  of  getting  the  vessels  back 
of  Vicksburg  in  that  way,  and  sent  Lieutenant  Murphy  in  a  tug 
to  examine  the  woods  as  far  as  he  could  go,  and  to  let  me  know  the 
results  of  his  cruise  as  soon  as  possible. 

Murphy  soon  returned  with  the  most  cheering  news,  and  in 
duced  me  to  go  with  him  and  take  a  look  for  myself.  General 
Grant  accompanied  me,  and,  prepared  with  lead-lines  to  measure 
the  depth,  we  started  off. 

A  few  miles  up  the  Yazoo,  before  reaching  Haines's  Bluff,  we 
came  to  an  opening  in  the  woods.  Under  the  pilotage  of  Murphy, 
the  tug  Jessie  Benton  darted  into  the  bushes,  and  the  man  at  the 
lead  took  the  soundings— nothing  less  than  fifteen  feet.  Presently 
we  reached  an  opening  between  the  trees  sufficiently  wide  to  admit 
two  ironclads  abreast.  I  suppose  it  was  an  ancient  road  in  the 
forest  by  which  to  haul  cotton  to  the  river. 

"We  followed  this  for  five  miles  until  we  reached  a  forest  of  large 
trees  without  any  undergrowth,  but  with  width  enough  between 
them  to  admit  the  passage  of  our  heaviest  ironclad.  This  forest 
permitted  us  to  steam  along  about  five  miles  farther,  when  we 
came  to  a  wide  opening  where  there  were  but  few  trees.  Here  we 
found  a  bayou  leading  to  the  westward  with  from  ten  to  twelve  feet 
of  water — more  than  enough  for  our  purposes. 


138    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

We  knew  this  bayou  led  into  the  Rolling  Fork,  Yallabusha, 
and  Sunflower  Rivers,  though  there  was  not  generally  enough 
water  in  it  to  float  a  canoe.  We  could  not  ascend  it  then  for  fear 
of  alarming  the  inhabitants,  or  letting  them  know  the  news  of  our 
arrival  in  these  woods  and  having  it  conveyed  to  Vicksburg. 

We  saw  all  we  wanted,  and  General  Grant  approved  of  the  plan 
I  proposed  of  going  up  with  some  ironclads,  tugs,  etc.,  and  trying 
to  get  into  the  Sunflower  ;  that  would  lead  us  into  the  Yazoo 
again,  and  we  could  come  down  and  take  Haines's  Bluff  in  the 
rear. 

General  Grant  also  determined  to  send  General  Sherman  on  the 
expedition  with  ten  thousand  troops,  and  said  we  could  make  a 
reconnoissance  if  we  could  do  no  more,  for  he  saw  from  the  first 
that  there  was  no  use  in  sitting  down  before  Vicksburg  and  simply 
looking  at  it,  or  bombarding  it  to  bring  about  a  surrender ;  we 
would  have  lost  time,  and  deposited  our  shell  in  the  hills,  increas 
ing  their  weight  in  iron,  without  getting  nearer  to  our  object. 
General  Grant  had  from  the  first  an  idea  of  turning  Vicksburg,  but 
how  to  do  it  was  the  question.  He  was  obliged  to  have  transports 
if  he  went  below  the  city  and  desired  to  cross  the  river  to  land  on 
the  Vicksburg  side,  and  enough  of  these  transports  to  carry  troops 
and  provisions.  How  was  he  to  get  these  frail  vessels  below  Vicks 
burg  without  passing  the  batteries  ?  One  shot  would  disable 
them.  He  could  depend  upon  the  gun-boats  to  pass  the  batteries, 
but  there  were  not  enough  of  them  to  convey  the  necessary  number 
of  troops,  and  they  had  no  accommodations  for  carrying  provisions. 

Besides,  it  would  not  do  to  take  too  many  of  the  gun-boats  be 
low  Vicksburg,  for  it  would  leave  the  upper  Mississippi  unguarded, 
and  the  enemy  would  commence  at  once  to  erect  batteries  along 
the  river  and  stop  the  transportation  of  troops  and  stores.  Dur 
ing  all  Grant's  operations  before  Vicksburg,  while  I  had  command 
of  the  river  force,  he  never  had  a  transport  molested.  I  so  guarded 
the  Mississippi — from  Cairo  down — with  gun-boats  (which  I  was 
building  or  altering  incessantly)  that  flying  batteries  and  guerrillas 
— so  called — were  never  able  to  make  any  headway. 

General  Grant  had  to  think  of  all  these  things  before  he  could 
make  a  move  for  below. 

He  talked  with  me  about  it,  and  I  assured  him  I  was  ready  to 
go  the  moment  he  desired  it.  He  thought  he  might  do  some 
thing  that  would  enable  him  to  get  by  Vicksburg  without  bringing 
his  transports  under  fire.  He  tried  cutting  a  ditch  across  the 


NAVAL  EVOLUTIONS   IN   THE  WOODS.  139 

peninsula,  in  hopes  that  the  river  would  burst  through  there  and 
leave  Vicksburg  out  in  the  cold.  This  occurred  finally  (after  the 
war),  but  too  late  for  our  operations,  for,  notwithstanding  the 
high  stage  of  the  water,  it  refused  to  run  through  the  ditch  ;  heavy 
eddies  extended  from  the  shore  far  out  into  the  river  and  kept  the 
current  away  from  the  bank ;  there  was  no  cutting  power  in  the 
eddies. 

Grant  tried  to  make  a  channel  through  what  was  called  Lake 
Providence,  but  some  of  the  vessels  that  tried  this  passage  got 
entangled  in  the  woods,  and  came  near  remaining  there. 

Every  known  expedient  had  been  tried  without  success,  and 
now  it  remained  to  attempt  the  route  through  the  woods  to  the 
west  of  the  Yazoo  Eiver. 

Sixty  or  seventy  miles  above  Vicksburg  there  was,  many  years 
ago,  an  old  pass  into  the  Yallabusha  and  the  Sunflower  called  the 
Yazoo  Pass.  This  had  long  since  been  closed  up  by  a  deep  levee, 
and  the  land,  once  overflowed  through  this  pass,  had  become  flour 
ishing  plantations. 

It  was  proposed  by  some  one  to  open  the  pass  once  more  and  let 
the  water  flow  in,  making  a  deep  channel  by  which  we  could  send 
in  an  expedition  of  gun-boats.  These  might  reach  the  Yazoo  River 
that  way  back  of  Vicksburg  and  clear  the  way  for  the  troops. 

This  plan  met  with  approval,  and  General  Grant  and  myself 
determined,  at  the  same  time  we  were  trying  to  get  up  through  the 
woods  and  the  bayou  into  the  Sunflower,  that  we  would  send  a 
naval  and  military  expedition  through  the  old  Yazoo  Pass. 

This  expedition  consisted  of  two  heavy  ironclads,  three  or  four 
light-armed  vessels,  and  about  four  thousand  troops  in  transports. 
The  force  arrived  at  the  point  selected,  a  few  men  dug  a  small 
trench  with  spades,  and  in  an  hour  the  water  was  rushing  in  with 
the  force  of  a  cataract,  carrying  away  a  hundred  yards  of  the  levee 
and  inundating  hundreds  of  acres  of  land.  It  took  twenty-four 
hours  for  the  water  to  reach  a  level,  and  then  the  gun-boats,  with 
out  more  ado,  pitched  in  regardless  of  consequences,  followed  by 
the  transports.  Then  came  the  tug  of  war.  The  vessels  were 
swept  along  with  great  velocity  until  they  got  beyond  the  great 
pressure  of  the  water,  or  were  stopped  by  the  trees  with  their  over 
hanging  branches,  which  brought  them  up  all  standing,  bringing 
their  smoke-stacks  on  deck  and  knocking  off  some  of  the  upper 
cabins. 

The  ironclads  stood  the  thumping  better  than  the  lighter  ves- 


140   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

sels,  for  they  had  no  cabins  above,  and  all  they  had  to  fear  was  the 
loss  of  their  smoke-stacks  and  boats,  some  of  which  were  crushed 
to  pieces. 

All  the  vessels  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  strong  current.  If  one 
of  them  for  a  moment  grappled  a  tree  to  hold  on  by,  she  would 
find  another  one  sweeping  down  on  her  from  astern,  and,  for  fear 
of  being  crushed,  she  had  to  let  go,  and  then  all  floated  on  to 
gether. 

During  the  years  in  which  the  old  Yazoo  Pass  had  been  closed 
the  heavy  trees  had  mingled  their  branches  across  the  stream,  and 
now  often  stopped  the  progress  of  the  fleet.  Then  a  thousand 
hands  would  be  set  to  work  with  axes  and  saws  to  clear  away  over 
head  for  a  mile  or  two  in  advance. 

Sometimes  the  vessels  would  come  bump  against  a  small  te  Red 
River  raft,"  held  securely  by  running  vines  or  wedged  in  so  strong 
ly  with  a  key-log  that  it  would  require  hours  of  labor  before  they 
could  get  the  raft  loose  and  let  it  go  drifting  down  with  the  cur 
rent  ;  then  the  fleet  would  push  on  again,  and  this  lasted  three  or 
four  days,  while  the  expedition  only  progressed  forty  miles. 

Most  of  the  light  vessels  were  perfect  wrecks  in  their  upper 
works.  Their  machinery  and  boilers  held  out,  and  that  was  all 
that  was  required  of  them.  It  was  a  painful  and  ever- to-be-re 
membered  expedition  to  those  who  took  part  in  it. 

To  make  matters  worse,  the  naval  officer  commanding  the  expe 
dition  showed  symptoms  of  aberration  of  mind,  and  the  other  offi 
cers  with  him  had  great  difficulty  in  getting  him  to  pursue  proper 
measures.  The  officer  in  charge  of  the  troops  got  discontented 
with  the  hard  work  his  men  had  to  perform  in  cutting  down  trees 
and  other  obstructions.  Still  they  kept  pushing  on,  and  no  such 
word  as  fail  was  heard.  All  wondered  how  they  would  get  out  of 
that,  or  back  again  through  that  cataract ;  but  then  their  orders 
were  to  push  on  and  to  come  out  behind  Vicksburg !  Day  and 
night  they  moved  along,  taking  no  rest,  though  they  would  not 
make  more  than  two  miles  in  twelve  hours.  It  was  work  that  tried 
men's  souls,  and  there  are  few  naval  officers  left  of  all  that  party 
who  can  sit  down  and  tell  of  that  adventure.  Death's  avaricious 
hand  has  snatched  most  of  them  away,  and  it  shows  the  effect  the 
toil  and  excitement  of  war  will  have  on  men  of  iron,  with  nerves  of 
steel,  who,  if  they  had  been  left  to  pursue  the  peaceful  avocations 
of  life,  would  probably  have  been  here  now. 

There  is   an  end   to   all  hard  work,  privation,  and  exposure. 


CHECK   TO   THE   EXPEDITION.  141 

Every  one  is  either  killed  or  used  up,  or  gets  to  some  place  where 
he  can  lie  down  and  rest. 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  endurance  sailors  and  soldiers 
possess  which  is  kept  up  as  long  as  the  nerve-power  holds  out,  and 
it  was  with  a  relieved  feeling  that  the  people  of  this  expedition 
could  finally  lie  down  and  sleep  without  the  disturbing  noise  of 
crushing  bulwarks,  or  the  fall  on  the  decks  of  decaying  limbs. 
They  did  not  shun  death  nor  danger,  and  at  last  they  earned  their 
reward  :  "  they  slept." 

The  expedition  reached  an  opening  at  last  that  entered  another 
stream  almost  wide  enough  for  two  vessels  abreast,  and  without 
overhanging  trees,  "Red  River  rafts,"  or  sand-bars — a  pleasant, 
swift-running  stream  that  seemed  willing  to  carry  them  whitherso 
ever  they  wished  to  go,  and  they  thought  how  their  companions 
who  had  stayed  behind  would  envy  them  when  they  heard  their 
guns  booming  back  of  Haines's  Bluff,  startling  the  Confederates 
out  of  their  secure  and  comfortable  sleep. 

They  were  anxious  to  get  on,  and  the  command,  owing  to  the 
unfortunate  condition  of  the  senior  officer,  fell  upon  the  next  in 
rank,  as  brave  a  fellow  as  ever  stepped  on  a  ship's  deck.  He  had 
the  whistles  blown  for  getting  under  way,  and  sang  out,  "  On  to 
Yicksburg,  boys,  and  no  more  trees  to  saw  ! "  The  flotilla  moved 
on  about  a  mile,  and,  on  turning  a  bend,  ran  almost  into  a  fort  in 
the  middle  of  the  river,  with  the  channel  each  side  blocked  by 
sunken  steamers.  Heavy  rifled  guns  were  mounted  in  the  works, 
and  there  was  a  large  body  of  troops  in  the  fort  who  jumped  to 
their  pieces  the  moment  our  vessels  appeared  in  sight. 

These  works  were  all  new,  and  the  guns  just  mounted ;  the 
sunken  steamers  had  scarcely  blown  off  their  steam.  They  had  but 
a  few  hours  ago  brought  the  guns  and  carriages,  and  thrown  up 
breastworks  on  the  sudden  bend  in  the  river  (or  half  island),  and 
seeing  our  forces  close  at  hand,  they  had  sunk  the  steamers  to  pre 
vent  our  gun-boats  from  running  past  the  battery.  All  this  took 
our  people  by  surprise.  They  knew  from  the  truthful  contrabands 
that  there  was  no  such  work  on  this  stream  until  they  should  reach 
Haines's  Bluff. 

Here  was  a  check  with  a  vengeance.  Had  the  fort  been  alto 
gether  ready  it  would  have  given  the  lighter  vessels  of  the  expedi 
tion  a  warm  reception  as  they  came  so  confidingly  down  the 
river,  and  were  so  mixed  up.  As  to  the  transports  and  troops, 
they  would  have  fared  badly.  There  was  no  way  of  turning 


14:2    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  steamers  around  and  going  up  stream  again,  for  the  river  was 
too  narrow. 

The  vessels  had  to  get  hold  of  each  other  and  back  up  against 
the  stream  until  they  could  reach  a  bend  where  they  could  not  be 
seen.  While  they  were  doing  all  this  they  would  have  been  exposed 
to  a  raking  fire  had  the  enemy  had  his  powder  ready.  Laus  Deo  ! 
he  had  not  loaded  his  guns,  and  was  in  quite  as  much  excitement 
over  the  apparition  of  two  large  ironclads  and  a  dozen  transports 
and  light  gun-boats  with  the  pipes  all  knocked  over,  and  their 
cabins  and  light  work  all  gone,  as  was  our  party. 

They  no  doubt  wondered  where  they  all  came  from,  and  how 
they  got  there. 

The  Yazoo  Pass  expedition  was  supposed  to  have  been  prepared 
without  any  one  knowing  anything  about  its  destination  except 
General  Grant  and  myself  and  the  commanding  naval  and  military 
officers,  and,  even  until  a  spade  was  stuck  into  the  earth  to  open  the 
pass,  it  was  thought  that  the  destination  of  the  expedition  was  a 
profound  secret.  Yes,  pretty  much  such  a  secret  as  a  dozen  women 
would  keep. 

Secret  or  not,  here  the  expedition  was  met — almost  at  its  first 
entrance  to  those  inland  waters — by  heavy  earthworks,  three  or  four 
rifled  cannon,  and  a  body  of  troops.  The  question  was,  What  was 
to  be  done  ? 

The  ironclads,  after  going  backward  for  a  time,  tied  up  to  the 
bank,  and,  overlapping  each  other,  opened  fire  on  the  enemy's 
work,  which  turned  out  to  be  named  Fort  Pemberton,  after  the 
wily  old  soldier  in  command  at  Vicksburg. 

Ours  was  a  pretty  piece  of  strategy  for  getting  into  the  rear  of 
Vicksburg,  but  Pemberton's  was  better,  as  it  checkmated  us  com 
pletely,  and  this  often  happened  in  the  siege. 

The  Confederates  were  a  wide-awake  set  of  adversaries,  full  of 
energy  and  courage,  and  not  lacking  in  resources.  They  were 
working  with  all  their  souls  to  attain  an  object  which  they  consid 
ered  conducive  to  their  happiness,  and  they  did  not  care  whom 
they  hurt,  so  long  as  they  could  succeed. 

Our  people,  though  quite  as  energetic  as  the  Southerners, 
fought  with  a  different  sentiment.  There  was  still  some  kindly 
feeling  left  in  them  for  their  foes,  whose  courage  and  endurance 
under  great  privation  often  called  forth  applause.  We  were  not 
fighting  with  the  courage  of  despair.  A  man  of  ordinary  intellect 
could  see  the  end  which  would  be  the  downfall  of  the  Southern 


DESPERATION   OF  THE   SOUTHERNERS.  143 

Confederacy.     It  was  as  plain  as  the  writing  on  the  wall  at  the 
feast  of  Belshazzar. 

The  Southerners  were  fighting  with  the  energy  of  despair,  hop 
ing  that  some  untoward  event  might  spring  up  to  help  them.  At 
all  events,  they  were  determined  to  command  their  enemy's  respect 
for  their  courage  and  ability,  and  I  don't  think  any  brave  sailor  or 
soldier  ever  withheld  it. 

Our  troops  were  flocking  to  the  fields  of  battle  by  the  hundred 
thousands  at  a  time,  when  the  Confederate  troops  began  to  give 
out  in  numbers.  We  were  certain  of  means,  suffered  very  little  of 
the  discomforts  by  sieges  and  bombardments  experienced  by  the 
Confederates,  had  no  rancorous  feeling  to  urge  us  on,  and  simply 
desired  to  see  the  laws  vindicated  and  the  authority  of  the  Gov 
ernment  established  over  revolting  States.  There  were  occasions 
when  we  did  not  seem  to  count  the  value  of  time,  and  our  ener 
gies,  though  well  put  forth,  did  not  equal  those  of  our  enemies. 

On  our  side  there  was  not  a  sufficient  unity  in  command  ;  there 
was  a  kind  of  "  stand-off "  between  the  army  and  the  navy  when 
acting  together,  which  prevented  them  from  working  in  harmony 
and  with  one  purpose.  There  should  always  have  been  one  man  in 
an  expedition  in  command  of  the  whole,  and  his  authority  should 
have  been  so  manifest  that  there  would  have  been  no  appeal  from 
his  orders. 

This  was  not  the  case  in  the  Yazoo  Pass  expedition.  Each 
corps  commanded  its  men  independent  of  the  other,  and  there 
seemed  no  disposition  to  act  in  concert. 

The  course  of  General  Grant  and  myself  in  all  such  matters 
corresponded  entirely  with  what  I  have  suggested.  Though  he  had 
no  control  over  me  whatever,  and  I  was  never  tied  down  by  any 
orders  from  the  Navy  Department,  but  left  to  my  own  discretion, 
I  always  deferred  to  his  wishes  in  all  matters,  and  went  so  far  as 
to  give  orders  to  those  under  my  command  that  they  should  obey 
the  orders  of  Generals  Grant  and  Sherman  the  same  as  if  they 
came  from  myself.  Hence  we  always  acted  with  the  most  perfect 
accord. 

In  this  case  the  officer  commanding  the  troops  should  have  been 
subject  to  the  orders  of  the  naval  officer.  Then,  I  think,  we  would 
have  discomfited  General  Pemberton's  strategy  by  taking  posses 
sion  of  his  fort. 

When  the  ironclads,  the  Chilicothe,  Captain  Foster,  and  the 
Baron  de  Kalb,  under  Captain  Walker,  opened  their  bow  guns  (the 


144:  INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

only  ones  they  could  use),  the  fort  responded  promptly,  and  in  a 
short  time  jammed  the  port  shutters  of  the  Chilicothe  so  that  they 
could  not  be  opened.  It  was  certain  death  for  a  man  to  go  out  on 
the  bow  to  work  with  chisel  and  hammer,  and  Captain  Foster  had 
to  withdraw  from  action  until  he  could  remedy  the  difficulty.  In 
the  mean  time  the  Baron  de  Kalb  remained  and  sustained  the 
action  alone,  and  so  well  was  the  fire  directed  that  half  an  hour 
after  the  Chilicothe  returned  to  her  station  the  fort  stopped  firing, 
though  the  Confederate  flag  was  kept  flying. 

Now  was  the  time  for  the  troops  to  operate  ;  they  should  have 
been  sent  out  as  sharpshooters,  should  have  crawled  within  fifty 
yards  of  the  works,  and  kept  up  such  a  fusillade  that  nothing  could 
have  stood  it. 

The  vessels  could  not  get  near  to  the  fort  without  being  blown 
up  by  torpedoes.  One  torpedo  did  explode  right  in  front  of  the 
Chilicothe  when  she  took  her  position  the  second  time,  and  no 
doubt  they  were  planted  all  around  the  works,  and  for  some  dis 
tance  from  them. 

There  were  not  sailors  enough  to  undertake  to  carry  the  works 
in  boats,  and  everything  was  at  a  stand-still.  The  army  officer  in 
command  took  no  suggestion  from  any  one,  and  declined  to  assault 
the  fort  (which  was  a  low  one)  and  have  his  men  sacrificed. 
Pemberton's  strategy  succeeded,  and  our  party  left  the  place, 
struggling  back  again  wearily  through  the  Yazoo  Pass,  which  we 
had  taken  so  much  trouble  to  clean  out,  having  inundated  many 
thousands  of  acres  to  no  purpose  at  all. 

Great  complaints  were  made  by  both  sides  as  to  whose  fault  it 
was  that  there  was  a  failure,  but  I  told  the  navy  I  didn't  want  to 
hear  anything  about  it ;  they  did  not  get  through,  and  didn't  get 
the  fort,  and  the  less  said  about  it  the  better.  "  It  was  just  one  of 
the  episodes  of  the  war  "  (my  consolation  when  I  met  with  a  fail 
ure),  and  I  never  wanted  to  hear  of  the  Yazoo  Pass  expedition 
again. 

I  had  gone  through  the  mill  myself  and  knew  exactly  how  it 
was,  and  didn't  feel  much  like  blaming  any  one.  These  expedi 
tions  don't  sound  badly  on  paper,  but  they  were  enough  to  try 
men's  souls. 

About  the  time  the  Yazoo  Pass  expedition  got  off  I  proposed 
an  expedition  to  go  through  the  woods  by  the  same  route  explored 
by  General  Grant  and  myself. 

I  determined  to  go  myself,  and,  to  make  it  a  success,  I  omitted 


REMARKABLE   MILITARY   AND   NAVAL  EXPEDITION.  145 

nothing  that  might  possibly  be  wanted  on  such  an  expedition.  I 
selected  the  ironclads  Louisville,  Lieutenant-Commanding  Owen ; 
Cincinnati,  Lieutenant- Commanding  Bache  ;  Carondelet,  Lieuten 
ant-Commanding  Murphy ;  Mound  City,  Lieutenant-Commanding 
Wilson  ;  Pittsburgh,  Lieutenant-Commanding  Hoel,  and  four  tugs  ; 
also  two  light  mortar-boats  built  for  the  occasion,  to  carry  each  a 
thirteen-inch  mortar  and  shells  enough  to  bombard  a  city. 

I  really  do  believe  I  thought  I  was  sure  of  getting  in  the  rear 
of  Yicksburg,  and  could  send  some  more  shells  into  the  hills  that 
would  keep  them  fastened  down  to  eternity. 

At  the  same  time  General  Sherman  prepared  his  contingent  to 
accompany  the  expedition. 

General  Grant  was  so  much  interested  in  this  work  that  he  went 
up  to  the  end  of  the  woods  on  one  of  the  transports  to  see  Sherman 
start  on  his  march  alongside  of  the  gun-boats,  and  gave  his  per 
sonal  attention  toward  pushing  ahead  those  of  Sherman's  troops 
that  had  not  reached  us  in  the  transports.  These  now  and  then 
got  lost  in  the  thick  woods,  and  sometimes  got  their  pipes  knocked 
down. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  military  and  naval  expedi 
tions  that  ever  set  out  in  any  country,  and  will  be  so  ranked  by  those 
who  read  of  it  in  future  times. 

Here  was  a  dense  forest,  deeply  inundated,  so  that  large  steamers 
could  ply  about  among  the  trees  with  perfect  impunity.  They  were 
as  much  at  home  there  as  the  wild  denizens  of  the  forest  would  be 
in  dry  times. 

The  animals  of  all  kinds  had  taken  to  the  trees  as  the  only  arks 
of  safety.  Coons,  rats,  mice,  and  wild  cats  were  in  the  branches, 
and  if  they  were  not  a  happy  family,  it  was  because  when  they  lay 
down  together  the  smaller  animals  reposed  within  the  larger  ones. 

It  was  a  curious  sight  to  see  a  line  of  ironclads  and  mortar-boats, 
tugs  and  transports,  pushing  their  way  through  the  long,  wide  lane 
in  the  woods  without  touching  on  either  side,  though  sometimes  a 
rude  tree  would  throw  Briarean  arms  around  the  smoke-stack  of  the 
tin-clad  Forest  Rose,  or  the  transport  Molly  Miller,  and  knock  their 
bonnets  sideways. 

It  all  looked  as  though  the  world  had  suddenly  got  topsy-turvy, 
or  that  there  was  a  great  camp-meeting  in  the  woods  on  board  iron 
clads  and  transports. 

The  difficulty  was  to  preserve  quiet,  so  that  our  presence  might 
not  be  detected  by  the  enemy's  scouts.  It  could  not  be  possible,  I 
10 


146    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

thought,  that  the  besieged  in  Vicksburg  would  not  have  sought  an 
opportunity  to  reconnoitre  our  lines  by  means  of  canoes,  or  even 
communicate  with  some  of  those  who  were  always  to  be  found  faith 
less  to  their  trust.  Indeed,  I  would  not  have  been  much  surprised 
to  see  a  rebel  iron-clad  ram  lurking  somewhere  in  the  bushes,  ready 
to  spring  out  on  us.  They  were  building  two  of  them  in  Yazoo 
City,  where  the  ram  Arkansas  came  from.  Why  should  we  not 
meet  them  here  ? 

If  one  had  suddenly  slid  down  a  tree  and  attacked  us  I  should 
not  have  been  much  surprised.  The  only  reason  why  that  was  not 
likely  to  happen  was  that  the  Confederates  were  not  lucky  "in 
Aries"  and  generally  managed  to  lose  their  rams  and  ironclads  soon 
after  they  were  built.  They  would  perform  some  creditable  feat 
with  these  vessels,  and  then  blow  them  up,  or  set  fire  to  them,  to 
keep  them  from  falling  into  our  hands. 

Besides,  I  had  little  fear  of  the  rams  at  Yazoo  City,  as  I  knew 
their  condition,  through  a  truthful  contraband,  who  informed  me, 
"Dey  has  no  bottom  in,  no  sides  to  'em,  an'  no  top  on  to  'em,  sah, 
an'  deir  injines  is  in  Richmon'." 

We  ran  on,  in  line  of  battle,  eight  or  ten  miles  through  the  open 
way  in  the  trees,  carrying  fifteen  feet  of  water  by  the  lead-line.  Let 
the  nautical  reader  imagine  an  old  quartermaster  in  the  "chains" 
of  an  ironclad  steaming  through  the  woods  and  singing  out,  "  Quar 
ter  less  three  ! '-  Truth  is  stranger  than  fiction. 

At  last  we  came  to  a  point  where  the  forest  was  close  and  com 
posed  of  very  large  trees — old  monarchs  of  the  woods  which  had 
spread  their  arms  for  centuries  over  those  silent  solitudes  :  Titans, 
like  those  in  the  old  fables,  that  dominate  over  all  around  them. 

In  the  distance,  between  the  trees,  would  spring  into  sight  gray, 
sunless  glens  in  which  the  dim,  soft  ripple  of  day  seemed  to  glimmer 
for  a  second  so  fancifully,  indeed,  that  it  required  but  a  slight  stretch 
of  imagination  to  see  the  wood-nymphs  disporting  in  their  baths. 

The  sun  seldom  reached  these  woody  glades,  and,  if  it  did,  it 
was  but  to  linger  for  a  moment  and  disappear,  like  the  bright  star 
of  eve,  behind  a  silver  cloud. 

It  all  looked  like  some  infinite  world  in  which  we  were  adrift, 
where  the  sky,  soft  and  serene  (which  we  had  been  accustomed  to 
see),  had  been  furled  in  anticipation  of  a  squall. 

Every  turn  of  the  wheels  sent  an  echo  through  the  woods  that 
would  frighten  the  birds  of  prey  from  their  perches,  whence  they 
were  looking  down  upon  the  waste  of  waters,  wondering  (no  doubt) 


RAMMING  AND   PULLING  AT  BIG  TREES. 

what  it  all  might  mean,  and  whom  these  mighty  buzzards,  skim 
ming  over  the  waters  and  carrying  everything  before  them,  could 
possibly  be. 

Our  line  of  battle  was  broken  on  approaching  the  large  trees ; 
then  we  had  to  go  more  cautiously.  What,  thought  I,  if  the  trees 
should  become  so  dense  that  we  could  not  pass  between  them  ;  what 
would  we  do  then  ?  I  solved  the  difficulty  at  once.  "Ram  that 
large  tree  there,"  I  said  to  the  captain  of  the  Cincinnati ;  "  let  us 
see  what  effect  the  old  turtle  will  have  on  it."  It  was  an  unneces 
sary  act  of  vandalism  to  injure  the  old  Titan,  but  it  would  shorten 
our  road,  and  we  would  not  be  obliged  to  go  meandering  about  to 
find  a  channel.  We  struck  the  tree  while  going  at  the  rate  of  three 
knots  an  hour,  and  bounded  off,  but  started  it  about  twenty  degrees 
from  the  perpendicular.  The  light  soil  about  its  roots  had  become 
softened  by  the  water,  and  the  tree  had  not  much  staying  power. 
I  backed  again  and  gave  it  another  ram,  and  the  weight  of  eight 
hundred  tons,  with  a  three-knot  velocity,  sent  it  out  of  all  propriety. 
I  hailed  the  ironclad  astern  of  me,  and  ordered  her  to  bend  a  heavy 
cfyain  to  it  and  pull  it  down,  which  was  accomplished  in  half  an 
hour. 

I  wanted  to  see  what  we  could  do  at  ramming  and  pulling  at  big 
trees,  and  our  experience  so  gained  came  into  play  before  we  got 
through  the  expedition. 

It  was  all  very  pleasant  at  first,  skimming  along  over  summer 
seas,  under  the  shade  of  stalwart  oaks,  but  we  had  no  conception  of 
what  we  had  before  us. 

We  had  to  knock  down  six  or  eight  of  these  large  trees  before 
we  could  reach  the  point  where  Sherman  was  disembarking  part  of 
his  troops.  When  I  came  up  he  was  on  a  piece  of  high  ground,  on 
an  old  white  horse  some  of  his  "boys  "  had  captured. 

"  Halloo,  old  fellow/'  he  sang  out,  "  what  do  you  call  this  ? 
This  must  be  traverse  sailing.  You  think  it's  all  very  fine  just 
now,  don't  you ;  but,  before  you  fellows  get  through,  you  won't 
have  a  smoke-stack  or  a  boat  among  you." 

"So  much  the  better,"  I  said;  "it  will  look  like  business, 
and  we  will  get  new  ones.  All  I  want  is  an  engine,  guns,  and 
a  hull  to  float  them.  As  to  boats,  they  are  very  much  in  the 
way." 

At  this  point  we  ran  up  alongside  higher  land  which  looked  like 
a  levee. 

"  Is  this  the  last  of  it  ?  "  I  asked  Sherman. 


14:8    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"No,"  he  said  ;  "steam  on  about  twenty  yards  to  the  west,  and 
you  will  find  a  hole  through  a  kind  of  leyee  wide  enough,  I  think, 
for  your  widest  vessel.  That  is  Cypress  Bayou  ;  it  leads  into  the 
Sunflower  about  seventy-five  miles  distant,  and  a  devil  of  a  time 
you'll  have  of  it.  Look  out  those  fellows  don't  catch  you.  I'll  be 
after  you." 

Sherman  knew  every  bayou  and  stream  in  that  part  of  the 
country  better  than  the  oldest  inhabitants  knew  them. 

I  pushed  on,  my  fleet  following,  and  soon  found  myself  inside 
the  bayou.  It  was  exactly  forty-six  feet  wide.  My  vessel  was 
forty-two  feet  wide,  and  that  was  the  average  width  of  the  others. 
This  place  seemed  to  have  been  a  bayou  with  high  levees  bordering, 
reaching,  indeed,  above  the  vessel's  guns. 

It  had  been  made,  I  suppose,  into  a  kind  of  canal  to  connect 
the  waters  of  the  Sunflower  by  a  short  cut  with  those  of  the 
Yazoo,  near  Haines's  Bluff.  All  on  the  left  of  the  levee  was  deep 
water  in  the  woods.  On  the  other  side  were  cornfields.  The  levee 
had  stopped  the  further  encroachment  of  the  flood.  This  bayou 
had  not  been  used  for  many  years  for  the  purposes  of  navigation. 
It  had  almost  closed  up,  and  the  middle  of  it  was  filled  with  little 
willows  which  promised  to  be  great  impediments  to  us,  but,  as  there 
was  nine  feet  of  water  in  the  ditch,  I  pushed  on. 

Sherman  told  me  he  would  follow  me  along  the  left  bank  of  the 
ditch  with  his  troops,  and  be  up  with  me  before  I  knew  it,  as  he 
would  make  two  miles  to  my  one. 

It  was  intended  from  the  first  that  we  should  travel  along  to 
gether  for  mutual  support.  We  to  transport  him  across  rivers  and 
marshes,  he  to  keep  off  sharp-shooters,  whom  we  could  not  reach 
with  our  guns  on  account  of  the  high  banks.  We  left  Sherman  at 
the  point  where  we  found  him  arranging  his  men,  and  I  pushed  into 
the  bayou  with  my  whole  force,  keeping  one  tug  in  the  advance  with 
one  mortar-boat,  the  ironclads  in  the  middle,  and  the  other  tugs 
and  mortar-boat  with  the  coal-barge  bringing  up  the  rear. 

We  supposed  we  were  doing  all  this  very  secretly,  and  were  go 
ing  to  surprise  the  natives.  No  doubt  we  did  surprise  those  who 
dwelt  on  and  along  the  Cypress  Bayou,  but  our  movement  was 
probably  no  surprise  to  the  Confederates  in  Vicksburg.  I  am  quite 
satisfied  in  my  own  mind  that,  while  we  were  steaming  along  and 
performing  naval  evolutions  in  the  woods,  the  President  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy  was  reading  something  like  the  following 
dispatch  to  his  Cabinet : 


GOING  AHEAD  BETWEEN  BURNING  BALES  OF  COTTON.  149 

"  Sherman  and  Porter  pirouetting  through  the  woods  in  steam 
ers  and  ironclads.  Are  keeping  a  lookout  on  them.  Hope  to  bag 
them  all  before  to-morrow." 

We  had  not  entered  the  bayou  more  than  half  a  mile  before  we 
saw  the  greatest  excitement  prevailing.  Men  on  horseback  were 
flying  in  all  directions.  Cattle,  instead  of  being  driven  in,  were 
driven  off  to  parts  unknown.  Pigs  were  driven  by  droves  to  the 
far  woods,  and  five  hundred  negroes  were  engaged  in  driving  into 
the  fields  all  the  chickens,  turkeys,  ducks,  and  geese,  and  what  were 
a  few  moments  before  smiling  barn-yards,  were  now  as  bare  of 
poultry  as  your  hand.  I  had  issued  an  order  against  capturing 
anything  on  shore,  but  the  difficulty  was  to  find  out  where  the 
shore  was,  as  apparently  the  Cypress  Bayou  ran  right  through  the 
middle  of  a  stable-yard. 

I  informed  the  sailors  that  loot  naturally  belonged  to  the  army, 
but  that  prize  in  the  shape  of  cotton  marked  "C.  S.  A."  belonged 
to  them.  A  mile  from  the  entrance  to  the  bayou  there  were  two 
piles  of  cotton  containing  six  thousand  bales,  and  placed  opposite 
each  other  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  in  which  we  were  then  just 
holding  our  way  against  its  two-knot  current. 

Suddenly  I  saw  two  men  rush  up  from  each  side  of  the  bayou 
and  apply  a  lighted  pine-knot  to  each  pile.  "  What  fools  these 
mortals  be  ! "  I  said  to  an  officer,  "  but  I  suppose  those  men  have  a 
right  to  burn  their  own  cotton,  especially  as  we  have  no  way  of  pre 
venting  them." 

"I  can  send  a  howitzer-shell  at  them,  sir,"  he  said,  "and  drive 
them  away." 

"  No,"  I  replied,  "  that  might  kill  them,  and  we  don't  want  to 
do  that  except  in  battle." 

So  the  two  men  went  on  with  their  work  of  destruction.  They 
applied  the  torches  to  every  part  of  the  two  piles,  and  in  twenty 
minutes  there  was  a  column  of  smoke  ascending  to  the  skies,  and  the 
passage  between  the  piles  became  very  much  obscured. 

"How  long  will  it  take  that  cotton  to  burn  up  ?"  I  inquired 
of  a  darkey  who  was  asking  permission  to  come  on  board. 

"Two  day,  Massa,"  the  negro  answered  ;  "sometime  free." 

By  this  time  all  the  outside  of  the  cotton  was  blazing.  "  Ring 
the  bell  to  go  ahead  fast,"  I  ordered,  "and  tell  those  astern  to  fol 
low  after  me."  I  was  on  board  the  Cincinnati.  "  Go  ahead  fast 
the  tug  and  mortar-boat,"  and  away  we  all  went,  darting  through 
between  the  burning  bales. 


150   INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

All  the  ports  were  shut  in  and  the  crews  called  to  fire  quarters, 
standing  ready  with  fire-buckets  to  meet  the  enemy's  fire. 

It  reminded  me  a  little  of  the  fire-raft  at  Fort  Jackson,  but  we 
soon  got  used  to  them. 

The  fellows  on  the  tug  wet  themselves  and  boat  all  over  yery 
thoroughly,  and  as  they  darted  through,  being  below  the  bank, 
they  did  not  suffer  much  ;  but  the  paint  was  blistered  on  the  boat, 
and  the  fire  scorched  the  men. 

Myself,  captain,  and  wheelman  were  the  only  ones  on  deck  when 
the  Cincinnati  passed  through,  but  the  heat  was  so  intense  that  I 
had  to  jump  inside  a  small  house  on  deck  covered  with  iron,  the 
captain  following  me.  The  helmsman  covered  himself  up  with  an 
old  flag  that  lay  in  the  wheel-house.  The  hose  was  pointed  up  the 
hatch  to  the  upper  deck  and  everything  drenched  with  water,  but 
it  did  not  render  the  heat  less  intolerable. 

The  boats  escaped  with  some  blistering.  The  smoke  was  even 
worse  than  the  heat,  and  I  have  often  since  imagined  how  a  brave 
firemam  feels  when  he  is  looking  through  a  burning  house  in  search 
of  helpless  people. 

Just  after  we  passed  through  the  fire  there  was  a  dreadful  crash, 
which  some  thought  was  an  earthquake.  We  had  run  into  and 
quite  through  a  span  of  bridge  about  fifty  feet  long,  and  demolished 
the  whole  fabric,  having  failed  to  see  it  in  the  smoke. 

There  was  a  yell  among  the  negroes  on  the  bank,  who  looked  on 
with  amazement  at  the  doings  of  "Mas'  Linkum's  gun-boats." 

"  What  dey  gwine  ter  do  nex'  ?  "  said  an  old  patriarch. 

The  next  we  did  was  to  stop  and  breathe  after  getting  through 
that  smoke,  and  look  back  and  regret  the  loss  of  the  cotton.  The 
worst  thing  to  be  done  with  cotton  is  to  burn  it,  especially  when  it 
is  not  your  own. 

Here  was  the  Confederate  Government  complaining  of  Northern 
oppression,  and  yet  their  own  agents  were  riding  around  on  horse 
back,  setting  fire  to  the  people's  cotton  to  keep  it  from  falling  into 
our  hands,  while,  if  they  had  let  it  alone,  it  would  not  have  been 
troubled  by  us,  except  by  giving  a  receipt  for  it,  and,  when  the  war 
was  over,  the  owners  would  have  netted  more  than  the  full  value  of 
their  property. 

This  was  one  of  the  worst  cases  of  vandalism  I  had  yet  seen. 

When  all  the  vessels  had  passed  through  the  flame  and  smoke 
we  hauled  up  at  a  small  collection  of  houses,  where  the  negro  women 
were  running  around  screaming  and  driving  in  the  pigs  and  poultry. 


A  SURLY  PLANTATION   OVERSEER.  151 

A  burly  overseer,  weighing  over  two  hundred  pounds,  sat  at  the 
door  of  a  log-hut  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth.  He  was  a  white  man, 
half  bull-dog,  half  blood-hound,  and  his  face  expressed  everything 
that  was  bad  in  human  nature,  but  he  smoked  away  as  if  nothing 
was  the  matter — as  Nero  fiddled  while  Kome  was  burning. 

He  looked  on  us  with  perfect  indifference  ;  our  presence  didn't 
seem  to  disturb  him  at  all.  Doubtless  he  felt  quite  secure ;  that  we 
didn't  want  anything  so  bad  as  he  was. 

I  called  to  him,  and  he  came  down  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  bare 
headed,  and  lacked  stolidly  at  me  as  if  to  say,  ( '  Well,  what  do  you 
want?" 

"  Why  did  those  fools  set  fire  to  that  cotton  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"Because  they  didn't  want  you  fools  to  have  it,"  he  replied. 
"It's  ourn,  and  I  guess  things  ain't  come  to  such  a  pass  that  we 
can't  do  as  we  please  with  our  own." 

"  Tell  them  we  won't  trouble  it,"  I  said  ;  "  it  is  wicked  to  see 
such  material  going  off  like  smoke. " 

In  five  minutes  he  had  a  dozen  negroes  at  his  side,  and  they  were 
all  sent  up  the  bayou  on  a  full  run  to  stop  the  burning  of  cotton. 
He  believed  our  word,  and  we  did  not  disappoint  him. 

"And  who  are  you  ?"  I  inquired  of  the  man. 

"I  am  in  charge  of  this  plantation,"  he  replied;  "this  is  the 
mother  of  my  children" — pointing  to  a  fat,  thick-lipped  negress 
who  stood,  with  her  bosom  all  bare  and  arms  a-kimbo,  about  ten 
yards  away — "and  these  fine  fellows  are  my  children,"  he  contin 
ued,  pointing  to  some  light-colored  boys  who  had  followed  him 
down. 

"I  suppose  you  are  Union,  of  course  ?  You  all  are  so  when  it 
suits  you,"  I  said. 

"No,  by  G ,  I'm  not,  and  never  will  be;  and  as  to  the 

others,  I  know  nothing  about  them.  Find  out  for  yourself.  I'm 
for  Jeff  Davis  first,  last,  and  all  the  time.  Do  you  want  any  more 
of  me?"  he  inquired,  "for  I  am  not  a  loquacious  man  at  any 
time." 

"No,  I  want  nothing  more  with  you,"  I  replied ;  "but  I  am 
going  to  steam  into  that  bridge  of  yours  across  the  stream  and  knock 
it  down.  Is  it  strongly  built  ?  " 

"You  may  knock  it  down  and  be  d — d,"  he  said.  "It  don't 
belong  to  me  ;  and,  if  you  want  to  find  out  how  strong  it  is,  pitch 
into  it.  You'll  find  a  hard  nut  to  crack;  it  ain't  made  of 
candy." 


152   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"  You  are  a  Yankee  by  birth,  are  you  not  ?  "  I  asked. 

"Yes,  d — n  it,  I  am,"  he  replied  ;  "that's  no  reason  I  should 
like  the  institution.  I  cut  it  long  ago,"  and  he  turned  on  his  heel 
and  walked  off. 

"  King  '  Go  ahead  fast,' "  I  said  to  the  captain  ;  "  we  will  let  that 
fellow  see  what  bridge-smashers  we  are. " 

In  three  minutes  we  were  going  four  knots  through  the  water, 
and  in  one  more  we  went  smashing  through  the  bridge  as  if  it  was 
paper.  I  looked  toward  the  overseer  to  see  how  he  would  take  it, 
but  he  did  not  even  turn  his  head  as  he  sat  at  his  door  smoking. 

This  man  was  but  one  remove  from  a  brute,  but  there  were 
hundreds  more  like  him. 

We  came  to  one  more  bridge;  down  it  went  like  nine-pins,  and 
we  steamed  slowly  on,  forcing  our  way  through  small,  lithe  willows 
that  seemed  to  hold  us  in  a  grip  of  iron.  This  lasted  for  an  hour, 
during  which  we  made  but  half  a  mile. 

But  that  was  the  last  of  the  willows  for  a  time.  Had  they  con 
tinued,  we  would  have  been  obliged  to  give  it  up.  The  small  sprouts, 
no  larger  than  my  little  finger,  caught  in  the  rough  plates  of  the 
overhang  and  held  us  as  the  threads  of  the  Lilliputians  held  Gulli 
ver. 

Now  we  came  to  extensive  woods  again  on  either  side,  the  large 
trees  towering  in  the  air,  while  underneath  they  looked  as  if  their 
lower  branches  had  been  trimmed  to  give  them  a  uniform  appear 
ance  ;  but  they  had  only  been  trimmed  by  the  hand  of  Nature, 
whose  fair  impression  fell  on  all  about  us.  Man  only  marred  the 
prospect  there. 

The  banks  of  the  bayou  were  high  with  large,  overhanging  trees 
upon  them,  and  the  long  branches  of  the  latter  stretched  out  into 
the  stream,  endangering  our  pipes  and  boats.  The  channel  was  here 
exactly  the  width  of  the  ironclads — forty-two  feet — and  we  had  to 
cut  our  way  with  the  overhang  through  the  soft  soil  and  the  twin 
ing  roots.  It  was  hard  and  slow  work.  The  brutal  overseer  felt 
quite  sure  that  we  would  be  bagged  before  night.  He  didn't  know 
that  Sherman  was  right  behind  us  with  an  army,  and  an  army,  too, 
that  was  no  respecter  of  ducks,  chickens,  pigs,  or  turkeys,  for  they 
used  to  say  of  one  particular  regiment  in  Sherman's  corps  that  it 
could  catch,  scrape,  and  skin  a  hog  without  a  soldier  leaving  the 
ranks.  I  was  in  hopes  they  would  pay  the  apostate  Yankee  a  visit, 
if  only  to  teach  him  good  manners. 

The  gun-boats,  at  this  stage  of  the  cruise,  were  following  each 


SOME   IDEA  OF   CYPRESS  BAYOU.  153 

other  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  apart.  The  only  idea  I  can  give  of 
Cypress  Bayou  is  to  fake,  a  string  up  and  down  a  paper  two  hundred 
or  more  times.  We  did  nothing  but  turn  upon  our  course  about 
every  twenty  minutes.  At  one  time  the  vessels  would  all  be  steam 
ing  on  different  courses.  One  would  be  standing  north,  another 
south,  another  east,  and  yet  another  west  through  the  woods.  One 
minute  an  ironclad  would  apparently  be  leading  ahead,  and  the 
next  minute  would  as  apparently  be  steering  the  other  way.  The 
tugs  and  mortar-boats  seemed  to  be  mixed  up  in  the  most  marvel 
ous  manner. 

There  was  a  fair  road  on  the  right  of  the  bayou,  along  which 
Sherman's  troops  would  have  to  march,  and  all  that  was  required  to 
make  the  situation  look  confusing  and  confounding  was  to  have  the 
soldiers  marching  beside  the  gun-boats. 

I  was  in  the  leading  vessel,  and  necessarily  had  to  clear  the  way 
for  the  others.  The  bayou  was  full  of  logs  that  had  been  there  for 
years.  They  had  grown  soggy  and  heavy,  and  sometimes  one  end, 
being  heavier  than  the  other,  would  sink  to  the  bottom,  while  the 
other  end  would  remain  pointing  upward,  presenting  the  appear 
ance  of  chevaux-de-frise,  over  which  we  could  no  more  pass  than 
we  could  fly.  We  had  to  have  working  parties  in  the  road  with 
tackles  and  hook-ropes  to  haul  these  logs  out  on  the  banks  before 
we  could  pass  on. 

Again,  we  would  come  to  a  "  Red  River  raft "  that  had  been  im 
bedded  in  the  mud  for  ages.  All  these  had  to  be  torn  asunder  and 
hauled  out  with  a  labor  that  no  one  who  had  not  tried  it  could  con 
ceive  of. 

Then,  again,  we  would  get  jammed  between  two  large,  over 
hanging  trees.  We  could  not  ram  them  down  as  we  did  in  the 
woods,  with  plenty  of  "sea  room"  around  us.  We  had  to  chop 
away  the  sides  of  the  trees  with  axes. 

A  great  many  of  these  large  trees  had  decayed  branches,  and 
when  the  heavy  ironclad  would  touch  the  trunk  of  one  (though 
going  only  at  the  rate  of  half  a  mile  an  hour,  which  was  the  most 
we  could  make  at  any  time  in  the  ditch),  the  shock  would  be  so 
great,  and  the  resultant  vibration  of  the  tree  so  violent,  that  the 
branches  would  come  crashing  on  deck,  smashing  the  boats  and  sky 
lights  and  all  the  frame- work  that  they  reached. 

An  hour  after  entering  the  very  narrow  part  of  the  ditch,  where 
we  really  had  not  a  foot  to  spare,  we  had  parted  with  everything 
like  a  boat,  and  cut  them  away  as  useless  appendages.  Indeed,  they 


154  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

were  of  no  use  to  us,  and  only  in  the  way.  When  we  got  rid  of 
them  we  got  along  better. 

The  vessels  behind  learned  a  good  deal  from  our  experience,  and 
lowered  their  boats  and  towed  them  astern,  though  that  did  not  re 
lieve  them  entirely. 

Sometimes  we  would  have  to  pass  a  dead  tree,  with  its  weird- 
looking  branches  threatening  us  with  destruction  in  case  we  should 
handle  it  too  roughly.  We  received  quantities  of  dead  branches, 
and  we  never  knocked  a  dead  tree  without  suffering  terrible  dam- 


No  wonder  the  overseer  took  our  going  on  so  coolly.  He  ex 
pected  that  we  would  get  jammed  before  we  went  a  mile. 

That  day,  by  sunset,  we  had  made  eight  miles,  which  was  a  large 
day's  work,  considering  all  the  impediments,  but  when  night  came 
. — which  it  did  early  in  the  deep  wood — we  had  to  tie  up  to  the 
bank,  set  watches,  and  wait  until  daylight,  until  which  time  we 
hoped  to  give  our  men  to  rest. 

But,  the  reader  will  ask,  what  was  the  Confederacy  doing  all 
this  while  ?  They  may  imagine  that  Pemberton  didn't  know  any 
thing  about  this  romantic  pirouetting  through  the  woods  of  "Mas' 
Linkum's  gun-boats." 

Not  a  bit  of  it ;  he  knew  all  about  it.  He  had  sent  telegrams, 
no  doubt,  to  Kichmond,  announcing  the  fact  that  the  Union  navy 
was  making  a  cruise  through  the  woods  and  over  the  farms  in  the 
Yazoo  country,  and  would  likely,  in  course  of  time,  reach  Kich 
mond  itself  in  that  way.  He  was  not  afraid  of  Vicksburg — that 
never  struck  him — and  he  didn't  know  (or  I  thought  he  didn't) 
that  I  had  two  mortar-boats  with  which  I  expected  to  bombard 
Yicksburg  in  the  rear  ! 

No  doubt  the  Confederate  Cabinet  chuckled  when  they  were  in 
formed  that  the  authorities  at  Vicksburg  would,  in  the  course  of  a 
day  or  two,  bag  the  whole  American  navy  in  the  western  waters, 
though,  strange  to  say,  that  idea  never  entered  my  head. 

We  stopped  that  evening  about  seven  o'clock,  and  about  an  hour 
later  we  heard  the  chopping  of  wood  in  the  forest.  We  had  seen 
no  one  along  the  stream  since  we  had  left  that  burly  overseer.  The 
truthful  and  intelligent  contrabands,  in  whom  I  was  wont  to  repose 
confidence,  were  nowhere  to  be  seen,  whereat  I  marveled  much, 
knowing  their  sociable  disposition  and  the  lofty  aspirations  they 
felt  with  regard  to  the  liberty  of  their  race. 

They  were  so  faithful  in  adherence  to  their  protectors  that  they 


TREES  FELLED   TO   CLOSE   THE   STREAM  AGAINST   US.  155 

would  come  in  in  crowds  with  wild  inventions  of  moves  on  the  part 
of  the  enemy  if  they  could  not  find  something  real  to  tell. 

I  missed  these  ingenious  creatures,  and  wondered  what  had  be 
come  of  them.  It  was  true  we  were  hard  to  get  at  in  this  swamp, 
though  there  was  a  road  on  one  side  and  a  levee  on  the  other ;  the 
southern  side  was  an  interminable  waste  of  water  and  wood. 

I  was  always  of  an  inquiring  mind,  and  determined  to  find  out 
what  the  wood-chopping  meant.  It  seemed  to  me  that  there  were 
a  dozen  axes  at  work. 

I  put  a  twelve-pound  boat-howitzer  on  the  tug,  and  sent  her 
ahead  to  see  what  was  going  on.  In  twenty  minutes  I  heard  the 
report  of  the  howitzer,  and  then  another,  and  another.  Then  a 
steam  whistle  was  blown  from  the  tug,  and  all  was  silent.  No  more 
axes  heard  cutting  wood. 

In  a  very  short  time  the  tug  was  heard  returning,  snorting  as  if 
carrying  a  heavy  pressure  of  steam,  and  every  now  and  then  giving 
some  playful  screams  with  the  whistle.  The  forest  fairly  reverber 
ated  with  the  sound. 

The  officer  in  charge  reported  that  he  had  suddenly  come  upon 
a  large  body  of  negroes,  under  the  charge  of  some  white  men  carry 
ing  lanterns,  cutting  trees  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  we  were  in  ; 
that  they  had  felled  a  tree  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  this  had 
fallen  right  across  the  bayou,  closing  the  stream  completely  against 
our  advance. 

There  was  the  secret  of  our  not  meeting  the  truthful  contraband. 
He  was  employed  in  hemming  us  in.  He  was  too  accustomed  to 
implicit  obedience  to  his  master  to  refuse  to  do  anything  imposed 
upon  him.  He  was  too  ignorant  to  have  formed  any  opinions  on 
the  subject  of  doing  something  to  deserve  liberty.  Oppression  was 
second  nature  to  him,  obedience  one  of  Heaven's  first  laws,  and  he 
helped  to  chop  down  those  trees  with  as  much  glee  as  children  would 
feel  at  setting  fire  to  a  hay-stack. 

There  was  but  one  thing  to  do  :  Move  ahead  and  clear  the  chan 
nel  of  a  tree  across  it,  three  feet  in  diameter,  spreading  its  branches 
over  an  area  of  seventy  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

We  worked  ahead  slowly  with  men  in  advance  on  the  bank,  with 
lanterns  to  show  what  dangers  there  were.  We  arrived  at  the  fallen 
tree  in  less  than  an  hour,  and  made  arrangements  while  under  way 
for  removing  it. 

It  was  not  a  matter  of  great  labor.  Two  large  snatch-blocks 
were  strapped  to  standing  trees  as  leaders.  The  largest  hawser  was 


156   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

passed  through  the  snatch-blocks,  one  end  made  fast  to  the  fallen 
tree,  and  the  other  end  taken  to  a  steamer.  "  Back  the  ironclad 
hard,"  and  the  obstruction  began  to  move  slowly  over  the  water. 
In  less  than  ten  minutes  it  was  landed  clear  across  the  road,  so  that 
Sherman's  soldiers  wouldn't  have  to  march  around  it. 

A  second  application  of  this  improvised  "  power  gear,"  and  the 
route  was  again  free. 

The  Confederates  didn't  think  of  all  that  when  they  tried  to  bag 
us  in  that  way.  They  forgot  the  ingenuity  of  American  seamen. 

"Now,"  I  said  to  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  tug,  "go  ahead 
with  all  the  speed  you  have,  and  see  that  no  more  trees  are  cut  down 
to-night ;  and,  though  I  shall  be  sorry  to  harm  that  faithful  friend 
and  brother,  the  contraband,  if  he  continues  to  chop  at  any  one's 
dictation  you  must  give  him  shrapnel,"  and  off  the  tug  started. 

"We  could  already  hear  the  faint  strokes  of  the  axes  in  advance 
of  us,  and  no  doubt  the  managers,  having  cut  one  tree  down  and 
supposing  that  they  had  blocked  the  game  on  us  for  the  night,  and 
not  knowing  our  facilities  for  removing  trees,  had,  as  soon  as  they 
imagined  themselves  out  of  reach  of  the  howitzer,  set  to  work  at 
cutting  other  trees,  with  the  intention  that  we  should  never  see  the 
Sunflower,  nor  get  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg.  The  Confederates 
were  energetic,  and  it  was  wonderful  how  soon  they  got  their  ma 
chinery  to  work. 

Some  twenty  minutes  after  the  tug  left  us  we  heard  the  howitzer 
firing  rapidly,  and  then  all  was  quiet,  excepting  three  steam  whistles, 
which  meant  all  well. 

At  one  o'clock  that  night  the  tug's  small  boat  returned  to  us 
with  the  report  that  the  choppers  had  commenced  cutting  about 
twenty  of  the  largest  trees,  but  that  none  had  been  completely  felled  ; 
that  they  had  captured  two  truthful  contrabands,  who  informed 
them  that  the  parties  directing  the  cutting  of  trees  were  officers 
from  Vicksburg  ;  that  they  had  pressed  three  hundred  negroes  into 
the  work  and  made  them  use  their  axes  with  pistols  to  their  heads, 
and  gave  them  plenty  of  whisky. 

"The  officers  are  from  Vicksburg  !"  I  said  ;  "and  we  thought 
ourselves  so  smart  !  No  doubt  they  started  before  we  did,  and  got 
their  instructions  from  Richmond.  What  next  ?  " 

"  The  officer"  (Lieutenant  Murphy)  "says,  sir,  he  will  continue 
on  all  night,  and  thinks  no  more  trees  will  be  cut  down  at  present." 

I  didn't  care  about  the  trees.  I  was  just  then  thinking  how  I 
would  feel  if  they  should  block  up  the  head  of  the  pass  with  cotton 


VERMIN  SHAKEN  OUT  OF  TREES  ON  OUR  DECK.  157 

bales  and  earth,  and  leave  me  and  mine  sticking  in  the  mud  at  the 
bottom  of  the  bayou. 

What  a  time,  I  thought,  Sherman  would  have  digging  us  out — 
but  I  was  sure  he  wouldn't  mind  doing  it. 

Nevertheless,  we  put  out  guards  along  the  road,  and  slept  as 
comfortably  as  if  we  had  been  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel.  Some 
how  or  other  I  didn't  think  the  Confederacy  could  bag  me  as  long 
as  I  had  Sherman  in  company  with  his  stalwart  fellows — half  sailor, 
half  soldier,  with  a  touch  of  the  snapping  turtle. 

At  daylight  next  morning  we  moved  ahead,  and  all  that  day 
toiled  as  men  never  toiled  before.  Our  vessels  looked  like  wrecks, 
and  there  was  scarcely  a  whole  boat  left  in  the  fleet.  Evening  found 
us  fourteen  miles  ahead,  but  where  was  Sherman  ?  There  was  only 
one  road,  so  he  couldn't  have  taken  the  wrong  one. 

I  had  been  rather  precipitate  in  rushing  ahead  with  the  fleet, 
though  I  could  not  have  been  of  any  help  to  Sherman,  but  I  would 
have  had  the  services  of  the  army  to  stop  the  tree-cutting,  which  I 
now  had  to  do  myself  by  sending  out  a  detachment  of  two  hundred 
men  from  the  vessels.  These  men  were  ordered  to  march  all  night 
along  the  road  while  the  tug  covered  them  with  her  howitzer. 

It  were  vain  to  tell  all  the  hardships  of  the  third  day.  The 
plot  seemed  to  thicken  as  we  advanced,  and  old  logs,  small  Red 
River  rafts,  and  rotten  trees  overhanging  the  banks,  seemed  to 
accumulate. 

The  dead  trees  were  full  of  vermin  of  all  sorts.  Insects  of  every 
kind  and  shape,  such  as  are  seen  only  in  Southern  climes,  infested 
these  trees.  Rats  and  mice,  driven  from  the  fields  by  the  high 
water,  had  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  hollow  trunks  and  rotten 
branches.  Snakes  of  every  kind  and  description  had  followed  the 
rats  and  mice  to  these  old  arks  of  safety.  These  innocent  creatures 
knew  nothing  of  the  insecurity  of  their  adopted  homes  in  presence 
of  the  butting  ironclads.  Small  wonder.  Who  would  have  dreamed 
of  such  things  in  these  regions  ? 

A  canoe  might  have  been  seen,  perhaps,  of  late  years  winding 
its  way  down  these  tortuous  channels  of  a  moonlight  night, 
manned  by  a  couple  of  dissipated  darkies  out  on  a  coon-hunt,  but 
navigation  by  anything  larger  in  these  waters  was  unknown. 

Sometimes,  when  we  would  strike  against  one  of  these  trees,  a 
multitude  of  vermin  would  be  shaken  out  on  the  deck — among 
them  rats,  mice,  cockroaches,  snakes,  and  lizards,  which  would  be 
swept  overboard  by  the  sailors  standing  ready  with  their  brooms. 


158  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Once  an  old  coon  landed  on  deck,  with  the  life  half  knocked  out  of 
him,  but  he  came  to  in  a  short  time  and  fought  his  way  on  shore. 
Even  the  coons  were  prejudiced  against  us,  and  refused  to  be  com 
forted  on  board,  though  I  am  sorry  to  say  we  found  more  Union 
feeling  among  the  bugs  of  all  kinds,  which  took  kindly  to  the  iron 
clads,  and  would  have  remained  with  us  indefinitely  had  they  been 
permitted  to  do  so. 

Three  days'  hard  work  and  no  hope  of  seeing  the  Sunflower 
Eiver  !  "We  had  made  one  capture.  Lieutenant  Murphy  had  gone 
ahead  and  taken  possession  of  an  Indian  mound  as  old  as  the 
deluge  ;  no  one  remembered  its  age. 

Why  had  not  the  Confederates  taken  possession  of  the  place  and 
fortified  it  ?  It  must  have  been  because  they  thought  it  worthless. 
They  showed  themselves  to  be  poor  judges  in  such  matters.  But 
Lieutenant  Murphy,  who  had  been  following  engineering  for  some 
years  before  the  war,  saw  some  strong  point  in  this  mound  (which 
I  did  not),  and  urged  me  to  fortify  it.  At  length  he  persuaded  me 
to  let  him  have  four  boat  guns  to  place  on  the  top  of  it.  "  It  would 
be,"  he  said,  "a point  tfappui  for  Sherman's  troops  to  assemble 
about  in  case  they  were  attacked  ! " 

"Where  are  the  attacking  forces  to  come  from  ?"  I  inquired. 

"  Can't  tell,  sir,"  said  Murphy,  "but  I  think  it  a  strong  point." 

"  Go  ahead,  then,  and  fortify  it,"  I  replied  ;  "  it  will  keep  you 
employed. " 

We  had  arrived  nearly  at  the  head  of  the  pass,  or  bayou,  to  what 
was  called  the  Rolling  Fork,  and,  after  all  our  toil  and  trouble, 
did  hope  to  see  the  road  clear  to  Vicksburg  in  the  rear. 

There  was  a  small  collection  of  houses  at  the  point  where  we 
had  stopped,  and  all  the  contrabands  in  the  country  were  assembled 
there.  The  tree-cutters  had  disappeared  and  liberated  from  duty 
all  those  who  had  been  pressed  into  service,  but  took  all  the  axes 
away  with  them.  The  negroes  were  jubilant  over  being  able  to 
join  "Mass*  Linkum's  gun-boats." 

We  could  readily  have  dispensed  with  their  services.  They 
were  only  an  encumbrance  to  us.  They  could  give  us  no  informa 
tion.  They  had  never  been  taught  to  think  or  know  anything  but 
to  hoe  and  pick  cotton.  That's  all  they  were  wanted  for. 

We  had  steamed,  or  rather  bumped,  seventy-five  miles,  and  had 
only  six  hundred  yards  to  go  before  getting  into  the  Rolling  Fork, 
where  all  would  be  plain  sailing  ;  but  I  waited  for  all  the  vessels  to 
come  up  to  repair  damages,  and  start  together. 


IRONCLADS  STUCK  FAST  AMONG   WILLOWS.         159 

I  noticed  right  at  the  head  of  the  pass  a  large  green  patch  ex 
tending  all  the  way  across.  It  looked  like  the  green  scum  on 
ponds. 

"  What  is  that  ?"  I  asked  of  one  of  the  truthful  contrabands. 

"It's  nuffin  but  willers,  sab,"  he  replied.  "When  de  water's 
out  ob  de  bayou — which  it  mos'  allers  is — den  we  cuts  de  willers  to 
make  baskits  wid.  You  kin  go  troo  dat  like  a  eel." 

I  thought  I  would  try  it  while  the  vessels  were  "coming  into 
port."  I  sent  the  tug  on  ahead  with  the  mortar-boat,  and  followed 
on  after. 

The  tug  went  into  it  about  thirty  yards,  began  to  go  slower  and 
slower,  and  finally  stuck  so  fast  that  she  could  move  neither  ahead 
nor  astern.  I  hailed  her  and  told  them  that  I  would  come  along 
and  push  them  through.  We  started  with  a  full  head  of  steam, 
and  did  not  even  reach  the  tug.  The  little  withes  caught  in  the 
rough  iron  ends  of  the  overhang  and  held  us  as  if  in  a  vise.  I  tried 
to  back  out,  but  'twas  no  use.  We  could  not  move  an  inch,  no 
matter  how  much  steam  we  put  on.  Ah,  I  thought,  this  is  only  a 
temporary  delay. 

We  got  large  hooks  out  and  led  the  hook-ropes  aft,  and  tried 
to  break  off  the  lithe  twigs,  but  it  was  no  use  ;  we  could  not  move. 
"We  got  saws,  knives,  cutlasses,  and  chisels  over  the  side,  with  the 
men  handling  them  sitting  on  planks,  and  cut  them  off,  steamed 
ahead,  and  only  moved  three  feet.  Other  withes  sprang  up  from 
under  the  water  and  took  a  fresher  grip  on  us,  so  we  were  worse  off 
than  ever. 

Just  as  well,  I  thought,  that  Murphy  seized  upon  that  mound. 
It  will  be  three  or  four  days  before  we  can  get  through  here.  He 
can  hold  it  as  a  look-out,  and  if  any  sharp-shooters  should  appear 
he  can  fire  on  them. 

Just  then  a  rebel  steamer  was  reported  coming  up  the  Rolling 
Fork  and  landing  about  four  miles  below.  We  will  catch  that 
fellow  after  dark,  I  thought.  He  has  come  up  here  after  stores. 

This  was  the  Vicksburg  granary — full  of  everything  in  the  way 
of  grain,  cattle,  and  poultry.  "  Hog  and  hominy  "  was  abundant. 

I  went  at  it  again,  and  worked  hard  for  over  four  hours,  but 
not  one  foot  did  I  gain  with  that  ironclad.  I  wished  ironclads  were 
in  Jericho. 

While  I  was  pondering  what  to  do,  and  the  negroes  were  look 
ing  on  in  admiration  upon  the  ingenious  devices  we  put  into  play 
to  get  rid  of  those  willow  fastenings,  wondering  to  myself  if  the 


160   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Confederacy  had  planted  these  willows  on  purpose  to  keep  me  out 
of  the  Sunflower  Kiver,  I  heard  the  faint  reports  of  two  guns,  and 
directly  after  the  shrill  shriek  of  rifle-shot,  which  came  from  direc 
tions  at  right  angles  to  each  other.  The  shells  burst  over  the 
Indian  mound  where  Lieutenant  Murphy  was  studying  the  strategy 
of  war.  They  were  Whitworth  shells.  I  knew  the  sound  too  well 
to  be  mistaken.  I  had  heard  them  before.  There  were  two  six- 
gun  batteries  with  a  cross-fire  upon  us. 

"Now's  your  chance,  Murphy,"  said  I  to  myself,  "to  show 
some  good  practice.  You  did  well  in  selecting  that  mound." 

I  forgot  for  a  moment  that  we  had  only  four  twelve-pounder 
smooth-bores  there,  with  a  range  of  about  twelve  hundred  yards. 

The  two  field  batteries  were  keeping  up  a  rapid  fire,  and  fifteen 
shells  a  minute  were  coming  from  the  enemy's  spitfires  and  burst 
ing  in  all  directions,  throwing  the  pieces  of  iron  and  the  bullets  of 
the  shrapnel  down  on  the  decks  of  the  ironclads,  where  they  rattled 
like  hail. 

Here  was  a  dilemma.  We  could  not  use  our  large  guns ;  they 
were  away  below  the  banks,  and  lying  so  close  to  it  that  we  could 
not  get  elevation  enough  to  fire  over. 

Suddenly  I  saw  the  sides  of  the  mound  crowded  with  officers 
and  men.  They  were  tumbling  down  as  best  they  could  ;  the  guns 
were  tumbled  down  ahead  of  them  ;  there  was  a  regular  stampede. 
Murphy  hadn't  found  the  top  of  the  mound  a  fine  strategic  point, 
and  that  was  the  reason  why  the  Confederates  had  not  adopted  it. 

The  fire  from  the  enemy's  Whitworths  was  incessant,  and 
every  one  was  running  to  cover. 

As  the  retreaters  passed  me  I  shouted  to  them  to  stop.  The 
majority  obeyed,  but  a  number  kept  on.  They  had  left  their  guns 
on  the  road. 

I  made  those  who  stopped  bring  the  guns  alongside  my  vessel. 
"You  shall  have  them  no  more,"  I  said  ;  "you  don't  know  how  to 
take  care  of  them." 

The  shells  from  the  enemy  came  so  rapidly  that  it  became  an 
noying,  so  I  ordered  the  mortars  manned,  measured  the  distance 
by  the  sound — 2,800  yards  on  one  range,  and  2,600  on  the  other — 
and  opened  fire. 

The  shells  seemed  to  be  well  timed ;  they  fell  in  the  midst  of 
the  artillerists,  and  the  two  batteries  ceased  by  mutual  consent, 
while  we  not  only  kept  up  the  fire  there,  but  all  through  the  woods 
where  these  parties  were  located. 


MR.  TUB,   THE   TELEGRAM-WIRE.  161 

This  little  diversion  being  over,  I  set  to  work  again  to  overcome 
the  willows. 

"What  a  dodge  this  was  of  the  Confederacy,"  I  said  to  the 
captain,  "to  plant  these  willows  instead  of  a  fort !  We  can  take 
their  forts,  but  we  can't,  I  fear,  take  their  willows." 

I  stepped  out  to  the  bank  (where  the  negroes  had  assembled 
again  as  soon  as  the  shooting  was  over)  to  see  if  I  could  learn  any 
thing  about  willows  from  these  innocent  people. 

All  I  could  find  out  from  them  was  that  "  dey  was  mo'  tougher'n 
ropes." 

"Why  don't  Sherman  come  on  ?"  I  said  aloud  to  myself.  "I'd 
give  ten  dollars  to  get  a  telegram  to  him." 

"  I'm  a  telegram -wire,  Massa,"  said  a  stubby-looking  negro,  com 
ing  up  to  me.  "  I'll  take  him  for  half  a  dollar,  sah  ;  I'm  de  county 
telegraph,  sah.  I  does  all  dat  bizness." 

"  Where's  your  office,  Sambo  ?"  I  inquired. 

"My  name  ain't  Sambo,  sah.  My  name's  Tub,  an'  I  run  yer 
line  fer  yer  fer  half  a  dollar." 

" Do  you  know  where  to  find  General  Sherman  ?"  I  said. 

"  No,  sah,  I  don'  know  him.   Ef  he's  in  Vicksburg,  I  kin  find  him." 

"  Can  you  carry  a  note  for  me  without  betraying  it  to  the  Con 
federates  ?  " 

"  I  don't  understan'  one  of  dem  words,  sah,  but  I'll  take  a  note 
to  Kingdom  Kum  if  yer  pay  me  half  a  dollar." 

Then  I  told  him  who  General  Sherman  was  and  where  to  find 
him.  "  Go  along  the  road,"  I  said,  "  and  you  can't  miss  him." 

"  I  know  nuff  better  'an  dat  manner  when  I  carry  telegraph, 
sah.  I  don't  go  de  road  ;  I  takes  de  ditches.  It's  nuif  shorter  an* 
ino'  safer.  On  de  lef  han'  comin'  up  dars  all  marsh  an'  wata,  an' 
a  kenoe  kin  allers  git  'long  dar.  I'll  go  de  way  we  nigs  takes  when 
we  go  chicken  huntin'." 

"Where  will  you  carry  the  dispatch  ? "  I  inquired. 

"  In  my  calabash-kiver,  Massa,"  he  answered,  pointing  to  his 
thick,  woolly  head. 

I  wrote  the  dispatch  and  handed  it  to  him.  He  stowed  it  away 
in  a  pocket  in  his  hair,  where  it  was  as  safe  as  a  telegram  traveling 
on  a  wire.  I  wrote  : 

"  DEAR  SHERMAN  :  Hurry  up,  for  Heaven's  sake.  I  never  knew 
how  helpless  an  ironclad  could  be  steaming  around  through  the 

woods  without  an  army  to  back  her." 
11 


162  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  had  no  sooner  got  off  the  telegraph  (as  he  called  himself)  than 
another  steamer  was  reported  as  landing  at  the  same  place  as  the 
one  which  brought  up  the  artillery. 

Upon  examining  her  with  the  glass,  it  could  be  seen  that  she 
was  full  of  troops.  Those  fellows  would  not  have  landed  there  if 
they  had  not  known  that  we  were  blockaded. 

The  stream,  for  some  reason,  began  to  run  rapidly,  and  large 
logs  began  to  come  in  from  the  Eolling  Fork  and  pile  up  on  the  out 
side  of  the  willows,  making  an  effectual  barricade.  It  was  the 
water  rushing  down  through  the  cut-off  and  creeks  from  the  open 
ing  into  the  "  Old  Yazoo  Pass  "of  the  Mississippi  Eiver.  What 
was  doing  good  to  those  fellows  was  bad  for  us.  I  wondered  if  they 
had  found  the  Confederacy  as  smart  as  we  had.  I  had  no  doubt 
of  it. 

Just  then  the  two  rifle  batteries  of  the  enemy  opened  again 
viciously  from  other  positions,  and  it  was  reported  to  me  that  two 
thousand  men  had  landed  and  were  marching  to  get  into  our  rear. 
Pleasant,  that ! 

I  had  sent  the  rear  tug  back  to  see  if  anything  could  be  heard 
of  General  Sherman  coming  on.  It  returned  with  the  information 
that  ten  miles  in  our  rear  the  enemy  were  cutting  down  the  largest 
trees  across  the  pass,  that  eight  had  been  felled  within  a  short  dis 
tance  of  each  other,  and  the  channel  behind  us  was  effectually 
blocked.  I  did  not  mind  this  so  much,  as  I  knew  that  Sherman 
was  not  far  off. 

I  found  another  telegraph  man  among  the  negroes,  and  sent 
him  off  to  Sherman.  He  pursued  the  same  method  as  his  prede 
cessor,  but  was  captured  by  the  enemy. 

We  kept  our  mortars  hard  at  work,  but  the  artillery  shifted 
position  every  three  minutes,  and  were  sending  among  us  about 
twenty  shells  a  minute.  The  men  had  to  keep  between  decks. 

We  were  in  the  narrowest  part  of  the  pass ;  it  was  the  same 
width  as  the  ironclads.  We  fitted  in  nicely — too  nicely  ! 

The  Confederates  had  completely  checkmated  us.  Every  knight 
and  pawn  and  castle  was  in  check,  and  my  vessel,  the  Cincinnati, 
was  checkmated  by  the  willows  ! 

There  was  nothing  easier  than  for  two  thousand  men  to  charge 
on  us  from  the  bank  and  carry  us  by  boarding.  Only  the  enemy 
didn't  know  the  fix  we  were  in.  They  didn't  know  how  it  was  that 
we  could  fire  those  thirteen-inch  shell,  that  would  burst  now  and 
then  at  the  root  of  a  great  tree  and  throw  it  into  the  air.  They 


A  DOSE   OF  NINE-INCH  SHRAPNEL.  163 

didn't  know  that  we  had  only  four  smooth-bore  howitzers  free  to 
work,  that  our  heavy  guns  were  useless,  below  the  bank.  So  much 
for  their  not  being  properly  posted.  But  I  was  quite  satisfied  that 
they  would  know  all  this  before  Sherman  came  up. 

We  drove  the  artillery  away  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
Then  I  sent  a  hawser  to  the  tug,  and  another  to  the  ironclad  astern 
of  me,  while  the  latter  made  fast  to  another  ironclad.  Then  we  all 
backed  together  and,  after  an  hour's  hard  pull,  we  slipped  off  the 
willows  into  soft  water.  Laus  Deo  ! 

Then  went  forth  the  orders  to  unship  the  rudders  and  let  the 
vessels  drift  down  stern  foremost,  and  away  we  all  went  together 
with  a  four-knot  current  taking  us — bumping  badly — down  at  the 
rate  of  two  miles  an  hour — which  was  twice  as  fast  as  we  came  up. 
The  enemy  did  not  discover  our  retreat  for  some  minutes,  but 
when  they  did  they  made  a  rush  for  the  Indian  mound  and  took 
possession  of  it. 

After  all,  Murphy  was  right ;  it  was  a  strategic  point !  But  only 
with  the  Whitworth  rifles,  not  with  smooth-bores. 

I  suppose  we  passed  that  fort  twenty  times  in  following  the 
crooked  pass,  and  the  enemy  were  pouring  it  into  us  all  the  time, 
but  they  didn't  do  much  harm. 

They  were  evidently  greenhorns,  and  failed  to  understand  that 
we  were  iron-clad  and  didn't  mind  bursting  shell.  If  they  had  fired 
solid  shot,  they  might  have  hurt  us. 

I  cared  very  much  more  about  that  infantry  than  I  did  about 
the  artillery.  As  our  bow  guns  were  bearing  astern  now  and  up 
the  bayou,  we  could  each  of  us  give  the  enemy  now  and  then,  at 
the  turns,  a  dose  of  nine-inch  shrapnel,  giving  the  same  attention 
to  their  infantry,  which  we  could  see  were  marching  in  the  direc 
tion  we  were  pursuing.  But  our  broadside  guns  were  useless. 

The  artillery  kept  up  their  fire  for  about  two  hours,  and  then  I 
think  they  began  to  find  out  that  our  bow  guns  were  bearing  and 
doing  them  some  injury. 

At  dark  we  tied  up  at  a  point  where  we  had  about  four  feet  of 
water  between  us  and  the  bank,  greased  the  ironsides,  and,  elevat 
ing  the  lower-deck  guns  after  loading  them  with  grape,  we  made 
the  best  of  our  position.  I  landed  five  hundred  men  with  howitzers 
after  dark,  and  placed  them  in  position  to  enfilade  any  attacking 
party.  Scouts  were  also  thrown  out  to  see  if  some  of  the  enemy 
could  be  picked  up,  and  the  remainder  of  the  crews  slept  on  their 
arms  at  quarters.  So  passed  the  night ;  but  Sherman's  whereabouts 


164:  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

were  a  continual  source  of  conjecture  to  me.  I  was  quite  sure  the 
Confederates  had  not  captured  him. 

About  ten  o'clock  my  scouts  brought  in  four  prisoners — two 
officers  and  two  sergeants — and  conducted  them,  at  my  direction, 
into  the  cabin. 

The  commanding  officer  was  quite  a  youngster,  and  when 
brought  in  was  as  stiff  as  a  poker. 

He  walked  up  to  me  and,  presenting  his  sword,  said,  "There, 
sir,  you  will  likely  recognize  that ;  it  is  the  sword  of  one  of  your 
officers  who  skedaddled  off  that  Indian  mound.  We  picked  up 
two  of  them,  and  captured  caps  and  shoes  enough  to  fit  out  a 
regiment.  Why,  your  fellows  left  a  lot  of  ammunition  behind 
them." 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "but  you  look  tired  ;  won't  you  sit  down  and 
take  some  supper  with  me  ?  I  have  a  cold  supper  and  wine  on  the 
table." 

"I  don't  care  if  I  do,"  he  answered,  "and  I  have  the  less  com 
punction  in  taking  it  as  it  belongs  to  us  anyhow.  In  two  hours 
you  will  be  surrounded  and  bagged.  You  can't  escape.  How  in 
the  devil's  name  you  ever  got  here  is  a  wonder  to  me." 

"I  should  like  nothing  better,"  I  said,  "than  for  your  friends 
to  try  that  kind  of  business  ;  they  would  learn  something.  But  sit 
down,  gentlemen,  and  eat." 

They  did  sit  down,  and  ate  with  an  appetite  I  never  saw  equaled. 

"We  have  had  nothing  to  eat  or  drink  since  noon,"  said  the 
youngster ;  "  we  could  eat  our  grandmothers  and  drink  up  Niagara 
Falls." 

"Drink  some  wine,"  I  said,  and  I  shoved  over  the  sherry  to 
them.  Their  throats  were  dry  as  powder-horns.  "Help  your 
selves,"  I  said ;  "  don't  stand  on  ceremony.  You  know  it  will  all 
be  yours  when  you  surround  us,  and  you  had  better  get  your  share 
before  the  other  fellows  arrive." 

"  Won't  you  drink  with  us  ?  "  asked  the  youngster. 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "with  pleasure.  Tell  me  how  Colonel  Higgins 
is." 

"He's  here,"  replied  the  youngster,  "and  came  along  on  pur 
pose  to  catch  you.  He  says  he'd  give  ten  thousand  dollars  to  do 
that." 

"Here's  his  health,"  I  said,  and  they  all  drank  bumpers  to  Hig 
gins. 

"I  can't  drink  with  you  any  more  now.     I  have  to  look  out 


CONFEDERATE   PRISONERS   LIVELY   AND   LOQUACIOUS.  165 

for  these  vessels ;  but,  as  you  are  prisoners,  and  have  no  respon 
sibility,  you  may  empty  the  bottle  if  you  like,  and  there  are  the 
cigars." 

"You're  a  trump,  and  no  mistake!"  said  the  youngster;  "I 
would  like  to  capture  you  myself. " 

"Well,  I  promise  you  that  if  I  surrender  to  any  one  it  will  be 
to  you." 

The  quartette  drank  until  they  became  very  lively  and  loqua 
cious,  and  boastful  of  what  they  were  going  to  do. 

"  How  far  off  are  your  troops  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  About  four  miles,"  the  leader  answered.  "  They  will  bag  you 
at  daylight." 

"That,  "said  I,  "is  about  a  good  distance.  Sherman  will  be 
on  them  about  three  o'clock,  and  capture  the  whole  of  them. " 

"  Sherman  !  "  he  exclaimed  ;  "  what  has  he  to  do  with  it  ?  " 

"Only,"  said  I,  "that  he  is  at  this  moment  surrounding  your 
troops  with  ten  thousand  men." 

"Holy  Moses!"  he  cried,  "we're  sold.  We  didn't  know  any 
thing  about  any  troops.  We  thought  it  was  something  like  that 
Yazoo  River  affair — a  gun-boat  excursion,  and  we  liked  to  have 
bagged  them.  They're  wandering  around  in  the  ditches  yet." 

Having  obtained  all  the  information  I  desired,  I  went  on  deck, 
put  a  sentry  over  the  cabin-door,  had  the  stern-ports  closed,  and 
gave  orders  to  call  me  at  two  o'clock. 

Then  the  shore  parties  were  called  on  board,  and  we  went  on 
the  lack  track  for  three  miles.  We  either  threw  the  enemy  off  the 
scent,  or  the  captured  officer  deceived  me  about  the  contemplated 
attack.  We  heard  nothing  of  them,  and  determined  to  go  on  down 
again. 

At  the  first  start  the  leading  vessel  sunk  the  coal-barge,  and  there 
we  were  blocked  and  unable  to  move.  It  took  hours  to  remove  the 
coal  and  spread  it  out  on  the  bottom. 

In  the  midst  of  the  work  we  were  attacked  by  the  enemy's  artil 
lery  in  the  rear. 

I  was  in  the  rear  ironclad — bows  up  stream  ;  we  steamed  up  after 
the  artillery,  got  within  range,  and  with  the  bow  guns  scattered  them 
like  chaff.  One  of  their  guns  was  knocked  over,  and  some  of  their 
men  and  cattle  were  hurt,  but  they  were  getting  less  timid  and  were 
gradually  closing  around  the  ironclads. 

The  stream  cleared  of  the  coal,  we  bumped  along,  stern  fore 
most,  down  stream,  knocking  down  dead  branches  from  the  trees 


166   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

upon  our  decks,  with  the  usual  accompaniment  of  vermin,  until  we 
thought  the  limit  of  ill-luck  had  been  reached  by  the  vessels  ;  but 
we  looked  worse  before  we  got  through. 

Sharp-shooters  made  their  appearance  in  the  morning.  About 
sixty  of  them  surrounded  us.  First  it  was  like  an  occasional  drop 
of  rain.  Then  it  was  pat,  pal  against  the  iron  hull  all  the  time. 
The  smoke-stacks  seemed  to  be  favorite  marks  to  fire  at.  They  no 
doubt  took  it  for  the  captain,  or  the  great  motive  power  which  kept 
us  a-going. 

The  sharp-shooters  were  not,  as  a  rule,  the  brightest  I  have  seen, 
but  then  they  had  bomb-shells  falling  among  them,  and  now  and 
then  a  tree,  behind  which  they  were,  would  suddenly  be  lifted  out 
of  the  ground  or  canted  sideways.  The  bomb-shells  were  demoral 
izing. 

I  adopted  a  new  plan.  I  turned  all  the  guns  into  mortars  by 
firing  them  at  the  greatest  elevation  (to  clear  the  banks),  and  with 
very  low  charges.  With  short  time-fuses  and  a  range  of  about  six 
hundred  yards  this  had  a  good  effect,  and  the  sharp-shooters  kept 
a  long  way  off. 

The  smoke-stacks  still  attracted  considerable  attention  from 
them,  though  it  was  true  they  had  wounded  some  of  our  people. 

Suddenly  the  Louisville,  Captain  Owen,  brought  up  all  stand 
ing.  There  were  eight  large  trees  cut  down  ahead  of  us — four  from 
either  bank,  and  they  seemed  to  be  so  interlaced  that  it  was  appar 
ently  impossible  to  remove  them. 

I  sent  out  two  hundred  riflemen,  and  found  that  they  were  quite 
equal  to  the  enemy.  They  drove  them  to  a  safe  distance  with  the 
aid  of  the  mortar  fire.  We  had  been  firing  heavily,  great  guns  and 
mortars,  for  two  days  and  nights,  and  thought  Sherman  must  have 
heard  us  and  been  worried  about  us,  but  he  had  his  troubles  in  get 
ting  along  as  well  as  others.  He  was  doing  his  best  to  come  to  our 
assistance.  It  may  seem  ridiculous  for  ironclads  to  be  wanting  as 
sistance  from  an  army,  but  without  that  army  they  would  likely 
have  been  in  an  ugly  scrape.  Its  proximity  alone,  without  its  im 
mediate  aid,  made  us  perfectly  at  ease. 

Under  fire  from  the  sharp-shooters  we  removed  the  eight  trees 
in  three  hours,  and  started  to  push  on,  when  we  found  those  devils 
had  sunk  two  large  trees  across  the  bayou  under  water,  and  pinned 
them  down. 

Another  hour  was  spent  in  getting  them  up,  and  under  renewed 
sharp-shooting.  Every  one  was  kept  under  cover  except  those  it 


THE   REBELS   RUNNING  FOUL  OF   SHERMAN'S   ARMY.  167 

was  absolutely  necessary  to  expose.  The  captains  and  myself  had  to 
be  on  deck. 

We  had  no  sooner  got  rid  of  these  obstructions  than  we  saw  a 
large  column  of  gray-uniformed  soldiers  swooping  down  on  us  from 
the  woods. 

We  opened  mortar  fire  on  them.  They  didn't  mind  it.  On  they 
came.  They  were  no  doubt  determined  to  overwhelm  us  by  num 
bers,  and  close  us  in.  Their  artillery  was  coming  on  with  them. 
Now  would  come  the  tug  of  war.  We  were  jammed  up  against  the 
bank,  and  the  stream  was  so  narrow  where  we  were  we  could  not 
increase  our  distance  from  it.  Their  sharp-shooters  had  now  taken 
up  positions  behind  trees  about  one  hundred  yards  from  us,  and  our 
men  were  firing  rapidly  at  them  as  they  opened  on  us. 

We  had  picked  up  a  few  cotton-bales  along  the  road  to  make 
defenses,  and  good  ones  they  were. 

The  sharp-shooters  were  becoming  very  troublesome  about  this 
time,  when  suddenly  I  saw  the  advancing  column  begin  to  fall  into 
confusion  ;  then  they  jumped  behind  trees,  or  fell  into  groups,  and 
kept  up  a  rapid  fire  of  musketry.  It  looked  as  if  they  were  fighting 
among  themselves.  But  no  !  they  were  retreating  before  some  one. 
They  had  run  foul  of  Sherman's  army,  which  was  steadily  driving 
them  back. 

The  enemy  were  much  surprised  at  encountering  such  a  force. 
They  never  dreamed  of  meeting  an  army  of  five  or  six  thousand 
men.  I  believe  there  were  more. 

I  made  signal  to  beat  the  retreat.  We  would  have  no  more 
trouble  now.  But,  just  as  I  had  given  the  order,  half  a  dozen  rifle 
bullets  came  on  board,  and  one  of  them  struck  the  first  lieutenant, 
Mr.  Wells,  in  the  head  while  I  was  talking  to  him  and  giving  him 
an  order. 

He  fell,  apparently  dead,  at  my  feet.  I  called  an  officer  to 
remove  him,  and  lie  fell  dead,  as  I  supposed,  on  the  other's 
body. 

Then  an  old  quartermaster  came,  dragging  a  large  quarter-inch 
iron  plate  along  the  deck,  and  stuck  it  up  against  a  hog  post. 
"There,  sir,"  he  said,  "stand  behind  that;  they've  fired  at  you 
long  enough,"  and  I  was  wise  enough  to  take  the  old  fellow's  ad 
vice.  Poor  old  man  !  he  was  shot  in  the  hand  as  he  turned  to  get 
behind  his  cotton -bale. 

But  that  was  about  the  last  of  it.  In  the  course  of  half  an  hour 
Colonel  Smith,  of  the  8th  Missouri,  rode  up  and  told  me  his  troops 


168   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

were  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  who  were  in  full  retreat,  and  that  we 
should  hear  no  more  of  them.  Again,  Laus  Deo  ! 

They  were  a  perplexing  set  of  fellows,  these  rebels,  and  showed 
a  great  amount  of  courage,  considering  the  prestige  of  "Mas'  Lin- 
kum's  gun-boats";  but  then,  it  must  be  remembered,  they  had 
caught  the  ironclads  in  a  ditch  in  the  woods.  They  could  hardly 
be  said  to  be  afloat. 

The  Confederates  never  dreamed  of  finding  us  where  they  did, 
or  they  would  have  come  provided  with  torpedoes,  and  left  us  all 
imbedded  in  the  mud  of  Black  Bayou,  where  in  future  ages  me 
mentos  of  us  would  be  found,  and  as  much  be  known  of  us  as  was 
known  of  the  Indian  mound  which  we  did  not  find  such  a  fine 
strategic  point. 

But  the  rebs  missed  their  opportunity,  though  they  rather  had 
the  laugh  on  us.  We  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing,  however, 
that  none  of  us  had  lost  our  heads,  though  at  one  time  matters 
looked  rather  embarrassing. 

I  didn't  notice  a  single  officer  on  that  expedition  who,  though 
exposed  almost  at  all  times  to  an  unpleasant  fire  from  sharp-shoot 
ers,  showed  the  least  desire  to  avoid  being  shot,  except  when  they 
hurried  down  so  rapidly  from  the  top  of  the  Indian  mound  ! 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  the  two  officers,  who  fell  at  my  feet  ap 
parently  dead,  both  recovered.  Theirs  were  only  scalp  wounds, 
owing  to  the  enemy's  bad  powder.  They  were  both  volunteers,  and 
did  good  service  all  through  the  Rebellion. 

"  Old  Tecumseh  "  came  riding  up,  about  half  an  hour  after  the 
last  mishaps,  on  the  old  horse  he  had  captured.  He  had  received 
my  county  telegraph  man,  who  explained  to  him  pretty  well  how 
we  were  situated,  and  he  had  pushed  on  at  night,  by  the  aid  of 
pine  torches,  through  swamps  and  canebrakes,  having  undertaken 
a  short  cut  recommended  by  the  telegraph  "operator,"  Mr.  Tub, 
and  found  the  traveling  almost  as  bad  as  that  experienced  by  the 
gun-boats. 

"Halloo,  Porter,"  said  the  general  when  he  saw  me,  "what  did 
you  get  into  such  an  ugly  scrape  for  ?  So  much  for  you  navy  fel 
lows  getting  out  of  your  element ;  better  send  for  the  soldiers  al 
ways.  My  boys  will  put  you  through.  Here's  your  little  nigger  ; 
he  came  through  all  right,  and  I  started  at  once.  I  had  a  hard 
time  getting  my  troops  over  ;  some  of  them  marched  over  from  the 


This  is  the  most  infernal  expedition  I  was  ever  on ;  who  in 


"ONE  OF  THE   EPISODES  OF  WAR."  169 

thunder  proposed  such  a  mad  scheme  ?  But  I'm  all  ready  to^go  on 
with  you  again.  Your  gun-boats  are  enough  to  scare  the  crows ; 
they  look  as  if  you  had  got  a  terrible  hammering.  However,  I'll 
start  at  once,  and  go  back  with  you  ;  my  boys  will  clean  those  fel 
lows  out." 

"  Thank  you,  no,"  I  said,  "I  have  had  enough  of  this  adventure. 
It  is  too  late  now  ;  the  enemy  are  forewarned,  and  all  the  energies 
of  the  Confederacy  will  be  put  forth  to  stop  us  ;  they  will  fill  all  the 
rivers  with  torpedoes,  and  every  hill  will  be  turned  into  a  heavy  fort. 
They  have  the  laugh  on  us  this  time,  but  we  must  put  this  down 
in  the  log-book  as  '  One  of  the  Episodes  of  the  War.'  We  will  take 
Vicksburg  yet,  when  it  is  more  worth  taking." 

"You  are  satisfied,  then,"  said  Sherman,  "with  what  my  boys 
have  done  for  you  and  can  do  ?  " 

"Yes,  perfectly  so,"  I  answered,  "and  I  never  knew  what  help 
less  things  ironclads  could  become  when  they  got  in  a  ditch  and 
had  no  soldiers  about.  Won't  you  come  aboard  ?  " 

"No,"  said  he,  " I  must  call  in  my  men  ;  they  could  not  catch 
those  fellows  if  they  chased  them  a  week.  Good-morning,"  and 
"Old  Tecumseh"  rode  off  on  his  ancient  horse,  with  a  rope  bridle, 
accompanied  only  by  one  or  two  aids. 

After  Sherman  had  departed  I  went  down  into  the  cabin  to  see 
my  prisoners.  The  cabin  was  dark,  and  they  were  sitting  there  very 
quiet. 

"Well,"  I  said  to  the  young  officer,  "they  have  got  us  at  last ; 
we  are  surrounded." 

"I  knew  they  would  bag  you  in  the  end,"  he  replied  ;  "I  felt 
that  I  was  not  going  to  be  a  prisoner  yet.  Well,  sir,  I  will  see  that 
you  are  treated  handsomely  when  you  surrender." 

"Surrender  to  whom?"  I  said.  "What  are  you  talking 
about  ?  " 

"Didn't  you  say  you  were  surrounded?"  asked  the  perplexed 
youth. 

"Yes,  I  did,"  I  replied,  "but  by  Sherman's  boys,  and  your  fel 
lows  are  skedaddling  off  as  fast  as  they  can  go." 

"  But  not  faster,"  he  retorted,  "  than  your  fellows  did  down  that 
Indian  mound  !  But  I'm  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  take  you  to  Vicks 
burg  ;  they'd  treat  you  kindly  there."  With  that  he  lay  down  and 
went  to  sleep. 

The  game  was  up,  and  we  bumped  on  homeward.  The  current 
was  running  very  rapidly  now,  and  the  vessels  were  so  helpless, 


170    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

dropping  down  stern  foremost,  that  we  could  not  protect  them  in 
any  way.  There  was  no  knowing  what  part  of  them  would  strike 
the  trees,  or  when  huge  dead  branches  would  fall  upon  the  decks. 
Every  one  remained  between  decks  except  those  who  were  absolutely 
required  above.  There  was  still  a  chance  of  the  enemy  playing  us 
a  bad  trick  by  blocking  the  head  of  the  pass  at  Rolling  Fork  ;  there 
was  plenty  of  cotton  along  the  road  to  do  it  with,  if  they  only  should 
think  of  it.  Twelve  hundred  bales  of  cotton  would  turn  the  water 
off  from  our  bayou,  and  in  an  hour  after  we  would  be  on  the  bot 
tom.  With  these  unpleasant  possibilities  before  me,  I  continued 
on  homeward,  and  protracted  my  run  until  eight  o'clock  that  night, 
when  I  came  up  with  the  main  body  of  Sherman's  army,  which  was 
encamped  along  on  the  road  near  the  edge  of  the  pass. 

Encamped  !  I  say.  They  had  no  tents,  but  a  plentiful  supply 
of  fence-rails  and  bonfires  of  pine-knots.  The  whole  route  for  miles 
was  all  in  a  blaze. 

It  was  great  fun  for  the  soldiers  to  see  our  dilapidated  condition. 
"Halloo,  Jack,"  one  fellow  would  sing  out,  "  how  do  you  like  play 
ing  mud-turtle  ?  Better  stick  to  the  briny." 

Another  would  say,  "  You've  been  into  dry  dock,  ain't  you,  and 
left  your  boats  behind  ?  " 

"Don't  go  bushwhacking  again,  Jack,"  said  another,  "unless 
you  have  Sherman's  boys  close  aboard  of  you ;  you  look  as  if  your 
mothers  didn't  know  you  were  out." 

"  Where's  all  your  sails  and  masts,  Jack  ?"  said  a  tough-looking 
fellow  who  was  sailor  all  over,  though  he  had  a  soldier's  uniform 
bent. 

"By  the  Widow  Perkins,"  cried  another,  " if  Johnny  Eeb  hasn't 
taken  their  rudders  away  and  sent  them  adrift !  " 

"Dry  up,"  sang  out  an  old  forecastleman,  "we  wa'n't  half  as 
much  used  up  as  you  was  at  Chickasaw  Bayou  ! "  for  which  the  old 
tar  got  three  cheers.  And  so  we  ran  the  gauntlet  until  we  reached 
the  middle  of  the  line. 

"Where's  General  Sherman  ?"  I  inquired  of  some  of  the  men. 

"He's  in  his  tent,  sir,  waiting  supper  for  you,"  answered  one  of 
them. 

Sherman's  tent !  As  if  he  would  have  a  tent  when  his  soldiers 
were  lying  about  on  fence-rails. 

But  I  came  to  his  tent  at  last ;  and,  reader,  I  wish  you  could 
have  seen  it :  it  was  three  fence-rails  set  up  in  a  triangle,  but  with 
only  a  small  fly  over  the  apex.  It  was  raining  hard  at  the  time,  and 


GENERAL  SHERMAN'S  BAGGAGE. 

Sherman  was  standing  leaning  against  one  of  the  rails,  while  a  large 
bonfire  was  blazing  brightly  before  his  "  tent "  !  "  You  go  on,"  he 
said;  "I'll  follow  you  to-morrow."  We  passed  the  compliments, 
and  I  ran  on  down  past  the  lines  and  tied  up,  having  run  the  gaunt 
let  of  jokes  that  were  showered  on  us  by  the  soldiers. 

As  we  were  getting  made  fast  to  the  bank  a  canoe  with  two  sol 
diers  in  it  tried  to  squeeze  past  us,  but  got  stuck  between  us  and  the 
bank.  They  had  a  large  pile  of  something  in  the  bottom  of  the 
canoe  covered  over  with  a  tarpaulin. 

"  What  have  you  got  in  those  bags  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  General  Sherman's  baggage,  sir,"  said  one ;  "  we've  just 
brought  it  up  from  a  transport." 

" General  Sherman's  baggage  ! "  I  said  ;  "how  long  has  it  been 
since  he  took  to  carrying  baggage  ?  Let  me  see  what  you've  got 
there." 

"Only  baggage,  Admiral,  I  assure  you,"  said  the  speaker,  "ex 
cept  some  turkeys  we  picked  up  for  you  on  the  road  up  here,"  and 
he  uncovered  and  displayed  a  pile  of  picked  turkeys,  geese,  chickens, 
and  sucking  pigs. 

"Where's  the  baggage  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Why,  sir,"  said  the  man,  "  there  was  so  much  of  it,  it's  coming 
up  on  a  tug — a  large  carpet-bag  of  it,  sir,"  and  he  handed  up  one 
of  each. 

The  steward  came,  and  took  a  turkey.  "Pass  General  Sher 
man's  baggage,"  I  said  to  the  captain,  and  the  sailors,  taking  hold 
of  the  painter,  pulled  the  canoe  through. 

Sherman  had  a  hard  set  of  boys  on  foraging,  and  they  enjoyed 
this  trip  up  the  bayou,  where  they  were  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
enemy's  granary,  and  the  people  of  Vicksburg  no  doubt  sighed  when 
the  Yankees  had  found  their  way  to  the  flesh-pots  of  the  South. 
Most  of  them  went  without  turkey,  chicken,  goose,  or  pig  for  many 
a  day  thereafter. 

There  is  not  much  more  to  be  said  about  the  Steele  Bayou  ex 
pedition;  it  didn't  amount  to  much  in  effecting  changes  in  the 
condition  of  Vicksburg,  but  we  gained  a  lot  of  experience  which 
would  serve  us  in  the  future.  We  might,  perhaps,  have  passed  the 
willows  if  we  had  waited  for  the  army,  and  got  the  soldiers  to  pull 
us  through  with  ropes  stretched  along  the  bank ;  but  to  have  de 
layed  pushing  astern  would  nave  insured  the  cutting  down  of  five 
hundred  trees  by  the  enemy,  and  given  them  time  to  send  to  Vicks 
burg  for  torpedoes  and  have  them  planted  all  along  that  ditch. 


172   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  never  saw  a  copy  of  the  telegram  Pemberton  sent  to  Eichmond, 
but  I  imagine  it  was  as  follows  : 

"The  enemy  made  an  excursion  into  our  overflowed  country 
and  pirouetted  around  exceedingly.  'They  buttered  no  parsnips.' 
Nature  fought  for  us,  as  it  always  does  for  the  Confederacy.  The 
elements  even  helped  us.  The  trees  fought  for  us  against  the  in 
vaders  of  our  soil,  and  the  huge  limbs  fell  down  upon  the  enemy's 
decks  and  demolished  them.  The  vermin  swarmed  over  them,  and 
they  returned  looking  like  picked  chickens. 

"They  will  never  try  it  again.  Vicksburg  is  safer  than  ever, 
and  can  never  fall  while  hog  and  hominy  last. 

"We  spit  on  their  grandfathers'  graves." 

I  am  quite  satisfied  that  no  one  who  went  on  that  party  desired 
to  try  it  again.  It  was  the  hardest  cruise  that  any  Jack  Tar  ever 
made,  and  we  all  determined  to  cultivate  the  army  more  than  we 
had  done,  in  case  we  should  go  on  a  horse-marine  excursion. 

It  was  with  the  greatest  delight  that  we  got  out  of  that  ditch 
and  into  the  open  woods  again,  with  plenty  of  "  sea  room  "  and  no 
lee  shores.  We  took  our  time,  went  squirrel-hunting  in  the  few 
boats  we  had  left,  and  got  a  fine  mess  of  turkey-buzzards  out  of 
the  old  oaks  which  surrounded  us. 

In  ten  days  more  we  anchored  again  in  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo 
Eiver  and  commenced  to  repair  damages. 

I  always  carried  a  large  steamer  along  with  the  squadron  fitted 
as  a  carpenter's  shop.  She  had  a  good  supply  of  mechanics  on 
board,  with  all  that  was  necessary  to  repair  a  vessel  after  an  action. 

In  a  week  we  we're  all  built  up  again,  were  supplied  with  new 
boats  from  the  store-ship,  and,  with  our  new  coats  of  paint,  no  one 
would  have  supposed  we  had  ever  been  away  from  a  dock-yard. 

Some  of  the  officers  were  talking  of  going  again,  and  of  the 
pleasure  of  the  trip,  as  people  who  have  gone  in  search  of  the  North 
Pole,  and  have  fared  dreadfully,  wish  to  try  it  once  more. 

This  was  one  of  the  many  expedients  adopted  to  bring  about  the 
reduction  of  Vicksburg,  and,  of  all  of  them,  never  one  more  hazard 
ous  or  more  laborious.  The  whole  siege  was  a  series  of  patient 
labors,  more  wearing  than  active  excitement  in  the  field  ;  and  while 
the  enemy,  on  the  one  hand,  displayed  the  greatest  endurance  and 
determination,  we,  on  the  other,  exhibited  the  greatest  patience 
under  many  disappointments. 

As  President  Lincoln  truly  remarked,  "  Vicksburg  was  the  back 
bone  of  the  Rebellion  and  the  key  to  the  situation."  And,  as  I  said, 


FALSE   REPORTS   OF   GENERAL  GRANT'S   ACTIONS.   173 

to  bring  about  what  we  wanted  was  the  best  general,  a  large  army 
and  naval  force,  and — patience. 

Yet  on  no  occasion  during  the  war  did  the  Government  and  peo 
ple  of  the  North  display  so  much  impatience  as  they  did  about  this 
siege.  While  General  Grant  was  working  with  that  imperturbable 
determination  which  distinguished  him  to  try  and  get  into  the  rear 
of  the  place,  and  his  trusted  generals  were  always  ready  to  forward 
his  views  (as  were  myself  and  all  my  officers),  some  implacable  foe, 
with  a  corps  of  reporters  "  at  his  beck  and  call,"  was  inundating 
the  country  with  false  accounts  of  Grant's  actions,  which  had  no 
foundation  whatever.  They  were  the  creation  of  a  malignant  brain, 
and  were  circulated  from  personal  motives.  • 

The  worst  of  it  was,  the  Government  was  partly  influenced  by 
the  same  spirit,  and,  had  it  not  been  that  President  Lincoln  was 
governed  by  feelings  of  justice,  disaster  might  have  befallen  the 
Union. 

No  ordinary  general  could  have  taken  Vicksburg  at  all ;  it  re 
quired  a  man  full  of  military  ability  and  knowledge,  and  one  who 
knew  whom  to  select  from  all  the  able  men  of  the  army — those  who 
were  best  qualified  to  undertake  the  many  vexatious  problems  that 
would  arise  during  so  important  and  difficult  a  siege. 

Some  men  would  have  given  it  up  and  said  that  it  was  not  worth 
the  loss  of  time  and  the*  waste  of  human  life  which  would  ensue ; 
some  would  have  demanded  half  the  resources  of  the  Union ;  but 
Grant  never  wavered  in  his  determination,  or  in  his  hopes  of  suc 
cess. 

He  had  a  smaller  force  than  the  enemy,  who,  knowing  the  im 
portance  of  the  place,  kept  a  garrison  of  forty  thousand  or  more 
men  inside  the  walls  and  forty  thousand  more  just  outside,  under 
those  they  considered  their  ablest  generals. 

When  General  Grant  had  tried  every  rational  expedient,  he  re 
sorted  to  the  last  and  only  true  one,  which  not  one  general  in  a 
thousand  would  have  approved,  and  which  he  followed  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  opinions  of  a  majority  of  his  commanders. 

When  I  look  back,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury,  and  remember  the  libels  I  used  to  read  in  Republican  papers 
against  the  men  who  were  doing  all  they  could  to  take  Vicksburg, 
I  lose  all  patience  with  them.  Fortunately,  newspaper  writers  are 
not  always  exponents  of  public  opinion,  and  the  sensational  arti 
cles,  written  on  the  scene  of  action  to  please  the  morbid  taste  of  the 
•public,  did  not  have  the  anticipated  effect,  any  more  than  the  im- 


INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

placable  misrepresentations  made  by  a  vindictive  foe  of  all  promi 
nent  officers  had  upon  the  President,  when  made  to  him  personally. 

Nearly  all  the  clever  young  officers  who  went  on  that  expedition 
with  me  are  dead  and  gone.  One  I  know  of  is  broken  down  and 
on  the  retired  list.  Such  is  the  insatiable  greed  of  the  great  mael 
strom — war. 

All  are  swallowed  up  who  are  not  made  of  iron  and  steel. 

Old  Tecumseh  and  myself  hold  on,  two  tough  old  knots,  with  a 
good  deal  of  the  steel  in  us  yet,  and  quite  enough  vitality  to  lay 
out  any  number  of  those  who  pride  themselves  upon  what  they 
can  do. 

We  can  sit  down  and  write  out  our  reminiscences  for  the  benefit 
of  the  young  men  who  are  coming  along,  and  perhaps  they  may 
learn  something  from  our  experience. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

A  COUNCIL  OF  WAR — PASSAGE  OF  THE  FLEET  BY  THE  BATTERIES 
OF  VICKSBURG — GENERAL  SHERMAN  VISITS  THE  FLEET  IN  ITS 
PASSAGE — WOODEN  GUNS  ON  CART-WHEELS — A  HANDFUL  OF 
CORN  AND  A  DEAD  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER. 

I  GAVE  General  Grant  a  faithful  account  of  our  reconnoissance, 
and  he  was  satisfied  that  he  could  not  carry  on  military  operations 
against  Vicksburg  in  the  way  we  had  attempted. 

"I  will  go  below  Vicksburg,"  he  said,  "and  cross  over  if  I  can 
depend  on  you  for  a  sufficient  naval  force.  I  will  prepare  some 
transports  by  packing  them  well  with  cotton-bales,  and  we'll  start 
as  soon  as  you  are  ready." 

"I  will  be  ready  to-morrow  night,"  I  replied,  "and  in  the 
mean  time  will  lay  in  a  full  supply  of  provisions  and  ammunition, 
and  prepare  coal-barges  to  take  along." 

General  Grant  called  a  council  of  war  that  afternoon  on  board 
my  flag-ship — the  Black  Hawk — and,  after  informing  the  generals 
what  he  proposed  to  do,  asked  their  opinions. 

General  McClernand  did  not  attend  the  council,  but  wrote  to 
Grant  approving  the  plan.  I  think  General  Sherman  was  present, 
but  did  not  favor  the  plan,  as  it  would  take  the  army  a  long  dis- 


THE   FLEET   PASSES   THE   BATTERIES  OF  VICKSBURG.   175 

tance  from  its  base  of  supplies,  and  for  other  good  reasons  which 
Grant  considered  it  necessary  to  set  aside  on  the  present  occasion. 

All  the  other  generals  present  at  the  council  strongly  objected  to 
Grant's  plan.  He  listened  patiently  and,  when  they  had  finished, 
remarked,  "  I  have  considered  your  arguments,  but  continue  in  the 
same  opinion.  You  will  be  ready  to  move  at  ten  o'clock  to-morrow 
morning.  General  McClernand  will  take  the  advance ;  General 
Sherman  will  remain  here  with  his  division  and,  if  possible,  make 
an  attack  on  Haines's  Bluff  in  conjunction  with  such  of  the  gun 
boats  as  the  admiral  may  not  want  with  him  below."  So  ended  the 
council. 

Everything  connected  with  this  movement  of  General  Grant's 
had  been  conducted  with  as  much  secrecy  as  possible,  yet  I  believe 
the  intended  change  of  base  was  known  in  Vicksburg  almost  as 
soon  as  it  was  in  the  Union  army.  The  Confederates  had  unknown 
means  of  finding  out  what  was  going  on,  though  we  certainly  sup 
posed  they  would  know  nothing  of  the  intended  movement  of  the 
gun-boats. 

As  night  approached,  all  on  board  the  gun-boats  were  in  a  state 
of  pleasurable  excitement  at  the  prospect  of  getting  away  from  the 
Yazoo  River. 

At  the  appointed  hour  we  started  down  the  Mississippi  as  quiet 
ly  as  possible,  drifting  with  the  current.  Dogs  and  crowing  hens 
were  left  behind,  and  every  precaution  taken  to  prevent  the  enemy 
from  becoming  aware  of  our  design. 

We  knew  they  were  to  have  a  grand  ball  that  night  in  Vicks 
burg,  and  thought  the  "sounds  of  revelry"  would  favor  us  in  get 
ting  the  transports  past  the  batteries.  All  of  these  vessels  had  been 
protected  with  cotton-bales,  and,  under  the  management  of  their 
brave  and  experienced  pilots,  followed  along  in  line. 

I  was  in  advance,  in  the  Benton,  and  as  I  looked  back  at  the 
long  line  I  could  compare  them  only  to  so  many  phantom  vessels. 
Not  a  light  was  to  be  seen  nor  a  sound  heard  throughout  the  fleet. 

"We  approached  the  bend  in  the  river  where  the  frowning  heights 
were  covered  with  heavy  batteries. 

"  We  will,  no  doubt,  slip  by  unnoticed,"  I  remarked  to  the  cap 
tain  of  the  Benton  ;  "the  rebels  seem  to  keep  a  very  poor  watch." 

Just  then  a  bright  light  along  the  levee  illuminated  everything, 
showing  the  city  and  forts  as  plainly  as  if  it  were  daylight. 

"  The  town  is  on  fire  !  "  exclaimed  the  captain.  On  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river  was  a  large  railroad  station  with  outbuildings,  and 


176   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

as  soon  as  the  first  fire  broke  out,  these  also  burst  into  flames.  The 
tipper  fort  opened  its  heavy  guns  upon  the  Benton,  the  shot  rat 
tling  against  her  sides  like  hail,  but  she  had  four  inches  of  iron 
plating  over  forty  inches  of  oak,  so  that  not  much  impression  was 
made  upon  her  hull.  There  being  no  longer  any  concealment  pos 
sible,  we  stood  to  our  guns  and  returned  the  enemy's  fire. 

Every  fort  and  hill-top  vomited  forth  shot  and  shell,  many  of 
the  latter  bursting  in  the  air  and  doing  no  damage,  but  adding  to 
the  grandeur  of  the  scene.  As  fast  as  our  vessels  came  within 
range  of  the  forts  they  opened  their  broadsides,  and  soon  put  a  stop 
to  any  revelry  that  might  be  going  on  in  Vicksburg. 

The  enemy's  shells  set  fire  to  the  transport  Henry  Clay,  and  she 
was  soon  in  a  blaze,  adding  her  light  to  that  of  the  tar-barrels  kept 
by  the  enemy  in  readiness  for  the  occasion,  for  we  had  not  surprised 
them  in  the  least  by  our  movement  to  run  the  gauntlet. 

The  courageous  pilot  of  the  Henry  Clay  stood  at  his  post  and, 
with  his  vessel  all  ablaze,  attempted  to  run  past  the  fleet. 

When  a  man  is  in  trouble  the  world  is  generally  down  on  him, 
and  so  it  was  with  the  Henry  Clay ;  the  enemy  found  her  a  good 
target,  and  showered  all  their  attention  on  her. 

The  blazing  cotton-bales  were  knocked  overboard  by  the  rebel 
shot,  and  the  river  was  covered  with  bits  of  burning  cotton,  looking 
like  a  thousand  lamps. 

The  men  of  the  Henry  Clay  finally  had  to  jump  into  the  water 
to  save  their  lives,  while  the  vessel  floated  until  she  burned  up. 

Another  transport  was  sunk  by  the  rebels,  but  the  rest  of  them 
passed  the  batteries,  though  not  without  suffering  considerable 
damage. 

As  to  the  naval  vessels,  they  had  to  go  slowly  and  take  the  ene 
my's  fire.  The  logs  on  their  sides  and  the  bales  of  hay  with  which 
they  were  packed  saved  them  in  many  cases.  We  had  few  people 
killed,  and  the  enemy's  artillery  fire  was  not  much  to  boast  of,  con 
sidering  that  they  had  over  a  hundred  guns  firing  at  us  as  we 
drifted  down  stream  in  such  close  order  that  it  would  seem  to  have 
been  impossible  to  miss  us. 

The  sight  was  a  grand  one,  and  I  stood  on  deck  admiring  it, 
while  the  captain  fought  his  vessel  and  the  pilot  steered  her 
through  fire  and  smoke  as  coolly  as  if  he  was  performing  an  every 
day  duty. 

The  Vicksburgers  must  have  been  disappointed  when  they  saw 
us  get  by  their  batteries  with  so  little  damage.  We  suffered  most 


GENERAL  SHERMAN   VISITS   THE   FLEET.  177 

from  the  musketry  fire.  The  soldiers  lined  the  levee  and  fired  into 
our  port-holes,  wounding  our  men,  for  we  were  not  more  than  twenty 
yards  from  the  shore. 

Once  only  the  fleet  got  into  a  little  disorder,  owing  to  the  thick 
smoke  which  hung  over  the  river,  but  the  commanding  officers,  ad 
hering  to  their  orders  "to  drift  only,"  got  safely  out  of  the  diffi 
culty. 

I  had  just  passed  the  last  battery  in  the  Benton,  and  the  vessels 
behind  were  crowding  rather  closer  than  I  liked,  so  I  gave  the  order 
to  "Go  ahead  slow,"  to  let  the  line  straighten  up.  This  soon  put 
us  a  hundred  yards  ahead,  when  I  was  hailed  by  some  one  in  a  boat, 
"Benton  ahoy!" 

"Halloo!"  I  replied,  and  presently  I  recognized  the  voice  of 
General  Sherman. 

"Are  you  all  right,  old  fellow  ?" 

"  Come  on  board  and  see,"  I  replied,  and  Sherman  came  over  the 
side  to  hear  about  our  fortunes. 

"  One  man's  leg  cut  off  by  a  round-shot,  half  a  dozen  shell  and 
musket-ball  wounds,"  I  said. 

"You  are  more  at  home  here  than  you  were  in  the  ditches 
grounding  on  willow-trees,"  said  Sherman.  "Stick  to  this,  old  fel 
low  ;  it  suits  Jack  better.  There  are  a  lot  of  my  boys  on  the  point 
ready  to  help  you  if  you  want  anything.  They  hauled  this  boat 
over  for  me.  Good-night !  I  must  go  and  find  out  how  the  other 
fellows  fared,"  and  I  believe  he  visited  every  vessel  in  turn.  He 
would  have  liked  to  have  been  in  the  storm  of  shot  could  he  have 
done  so  with  propriety. 

When  the  Benton  had  passed  all  danger  we  still  continued  to 
drift  on.  The  cannon  were  yet  booming,  and  fire  was  apparently 
issuing  from  a  dozen  burning  vessels. 

It  might  have  answered  for  a  picture  of  the  infernal  regions. 

We  were  an  hour  and  a  half  in  passing  the  batteries,  which  ex 
tended  along  the  river  for  about  four  miles.  I  could  not  stop  to 
ascertain  what  damage  had  been  done  to  the  other  vessels,  as  I  had 
to  keep  moving  to  make  way  for  those  behind  me. 

The  sound  of  guns  gradually  decreased  as  the  vessels  passed  the 
batteries,  and  then  all  was  silent.  The  fires  had  burned  out,  and 
the  river  had  returned  to  its  former  obscurity. 

I  came  to  anchor  around  a  point,  and  in  ten  minutes  the  gun 
boats  began  to  come  in  sight  one  after  another  in  the  same  order  in 
which  they  had  started,  anchoring  in  line  under  the  stern  of  the 
12 


178    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Benton.  Bunches  of  cotton  still  ablaze,  and  burning  fragments  of 
the  wreck  of  the  Henry  Clay,  continued  to  come  down  with  the 
current,  giving  an  old  rebel,  who  stood  on  the  shore  abreast  of  our 
anchorage,  an  opportunity  to  call  out,  "Whar  are  yer  gun-boats 
now  ?  I  tole  yer  dam*  soldiers  thar  wouldn't  be  mor'n  one  on  'em 
left  by  ther  time  Vicksburg  war  done  with  'em  ! " 

And  this  worthy  went  to  sleep,  happy  in  the  thought  that  the 
floating  bits  of  cotton  were  the  remains  of  the  unfortunate  gun 
boats,  only  to  wake  on  the  morrow  to  disappointment. 

General  Grant  had  turned  the  enemy's  flank  with  his  army,  I 
had  turned  it  with  the  gun-boats  ;  now  Grant  had  to  cross  the  river 
and  trust  to  his  brave  soldiers,  who  were  glad  to  do  anything  rather 
than  sit  down  day  after  day  with  nothing  to  do  but  carry  on  the 
ordinary  routine  of  an  army.  Yet  such  must  be  the  fate  of  those 
who  enter  upon  a  siege  like  that  of  Vicksburg,  where  Nature  has 
thrown  almost  insurmountable  obstructions  in  the  way  of  a  hostile 
army. 

Grant  ought  to  have  felt  happy  that  night  when  it  was  reported 
to  him  that  the  gun-boats  and  transports  had  arrived  at  Carthage 
ready  for  work,  for  he  knew  that  he  had  now  a  prospect  of  getting 
in  the  rear  of  the  rebel  stronghold.  As  for  myself,  I  felt  sure  of 
success,  and  was  certain  that  Vicksburg  would  soon  be  ours. 

General  Sherman  seemed  to  take  much  interest  in  the  passage 
of  the  fleet  by  Vicksburg.  Not  long  ago  he  employed  Mr.  Taylor, 
an  artist  of  New  York,  to  paint  a  picture  of  the  affair,  I  furnishing 
photographs  of  the  vessels  and  other  material  in  my  possession.  The 
picture,  which  is  a  very  correct  representation  of  the  scene,  is  now 
in  the  War  Department,  while  the  original  study  hangs  in  my 
library. 

When  daylight  broke,  after  the  passage  of  the  fleet,  I  was  be 
sieged  by  the  commanding  officers  of  the  gun-boats,  who  came  to 
tell  me  of  their  mishaps  ;  but  when  I  intimated  that  I  intended  to 
leave  at  Carthage  any  vessel  that  could  not  stand  the  hammering 
they  would  be  subject  to  at  Grand  Gulf,  everybody  suddenly  discov 
ered  that  no  damage  had  been  done  their  vessels,  which,  if  anything, 
were  better  prepared  for  action  than  when  they  started  out ! 

Opposite  where  I  lay  was  a  body  of  Union  troops,  and,  supposing 
it  was  McClernand's  corps,  which  had  the  advance,  I  steamed  up  to 
the  levee  to  greet  them. 

I  found  they  had  thrown  up  intrenchments,  and  had  a  log  on  a 
pair  of  cart-wheels  to  represent  a  field-piece. 


WOODEN   GUNS   ON   CART-WHEELS.  179 

General  McClernand  had  pushed  ahead  with  three  or  four  hun 
dred  men  of  Osterhaus's  brigade,  and,  upon  arriving  at  the  point 
where  I  found  them,  they  discovered  themselves  confronted  by  a 
couple  of  Confederate  regiments,  who  had  thrown  up  earth- works 
and  armed  them  with  four  guns  supposed  to  be  thirty-pounder 
rifles. 

Generals  McClernand  and  Osterhaus  came  on  board  the  Benton 
as  soon  as  she  was  made  fast  to  the  bank.  The  former  seemed 
pleased  to  see  us,  but  Osterhaus  was  beaming  all  over. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "dose  dampt  fellers,  dey'll  catch  it ;  give  dem 
gun-boat  soup ! " 

One  of  Osterhaus's  staff  ran  up  to  an  ensign — an  old  friend  of 
his — and,  giving  him  a  fraternal  hug,  exclaimed,  "Ah,  Pill,  mein 
Gott !  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you  !  De  sight  of  you  ish  petter  ash 
goot.  Effery  soldier  in  der  army  ought  to  carry  a  gun-pote  mit  hi3 
pocket!" 

"Ya!  ya!"  said  another,  "I  knosh  someding  petter  as  dot. 
Effery  man  shoult  pe  a  gun-pote ;  dot's  what  I  calls  de  ticket  for 
soups ! " 

In  the  works  which  the  Confederates  had  thrown  up  opposite 
McClernand  were  two  or  three  flags  which  I  thought  we  might  as 
well  capture.  McClernand  requested  that  I  would  let  the  gun-boats 
get  under  way  and  settle  that  work. 

I  signaled  for  Captain  Shirk,  of  the  Tuscumbia,  and  directed 
him  to  go  down  and  drive  the  Confederates  out  of  the  fort,  keeping 
up  such  a  rapid  fire  of  grape  and  shrapnel  that  the  enemy  could  not 
carry  off  a  single  gun. 

The  Confederate  earth-works  were  distant  about  eight  hundred 
yards  from  us  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  in  twenty  minutes'  time 
the  Tuscumbia  had  opened  her  batteries  at  a  distance  of  about  three 
hundred  yards,  and  the  enemy  soon  evacuated  their  fortifications, 
carrying  their  flags  with  them. 

Captain  Shirk  returned  almost  immediately,  having  failed  to 
carry  out  my  orders  and  bring  the  guns  with  him.  But  when  he 
came  on  board  the  Benton  he  held  in  his  hand  a  canvas  knapsack. 

"What  is  that,  sir  ?"  I  inquired,  a  little  severely  ;  "and  where 
are  those  guns  ?  " 

The  guns,  he  said,  were  four  logs  mounted  on  cart-wheels,  and 
the  knapsack  contained  all  the  enemy's  commissary  stores,  which  he 
dropped  as  he  was  running  away. 

In  the  knapsack  was  an  old  shoe  and  an  ear  of  corn.     Heavens  ! 


180   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

what  a  commentary  on  the  war  was  this  !  A  soldier  fighting  for 
an  idea  he  did  not  comprehend  and  against  the  only  form  of  gov 
ernment  which  could  insure  the  freedom  of  the  poor  white  man  of 
the  South,  and  willing  to  live  on  an  ear  of  corn  a  day  in  order  that 
an  oligarchy  might  be  formed  to  bring  him  down  to  the  level  of  a 
brute. 

Just  think  of  the  Spartan  courage,  though  combined  with  igno 
rance,  on  the  part  of  those  who  bore  arms  for  the  South !  Who 
could  help  admiring  such  men,  even  though  fighting  against  them  ? 

I  witnessed  many  similar  cases  when  visiting  battle-fields,  and, 
led  by  curiosity,  examined  the  knapsacks  of  the  dead  soldiers. 

On  one  occasion  I  found  but  a  handful  of  corn ;  on  another,  a 
few  ounces  of  corn-bread  ;  and  in  both  cases  the  dead  men  were  so 
emaciated  by  hard  labor  and  the  want  of  proper  food  that  they  were 
reduced  to  skin  and  bones. 

In  point  of  endurance  they  set  us  an  example  it  would  have  been 
hard  to  follow.  I  do  not  know  whether  we  could  have  endured  the 
hardships  as  well  as  they,  as  we  were  never  called  upon  to  try  it. 
Our  Commissary  Department  was  the  best  in  the  world,  and  the 
waste  of  our  provisions  would  have  supplied  a  European  army. 

The  presence  of  the  gun-boats  enabled  General  McClernand  to 
take  a  more  comfortable  position,  and  he  established  his  headquar 
ters  close  by  the  advance  of  his  corps,  being  about  five  miles  from 
Grand  Gulf,  where  it  was  at  that  time  supposed  General  Grant  would 
cross  over  if  the  gun-boats  could  drive  the  enemy  from  their  bat 
teries  at  that  place. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

NAYAL  BATTLE  AT  GRAND  GULF — THREE  COMMISSIONERS  FROM 
WASHINGTON  TO  EXAMINE  INTO  THE  CONDUCT  OF  AFFAIRS— 
ONE  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS  IN  A  "LONG  SHIRT"— TAR  AND 
FEATHERS — LANDING  OF  THE  ARMY  AT  BRUENSBURG — AMUS 
ING  STORY  OF  AN  IOWA  REGIMENT — FIRST  MEETING  WITH 
GENERAL  A.  J.  SMITH — A  CONFEDERATE  RAM. 

THE  battle  of  Grand  Gulf  was  fought  April  29,  1863,  and  won 
by  the  navy,  and  it  was  as  hard  a  fight  as  any  that  occurred  during 
the  war. 


JOLLITY   ON   BOARD   MY  FLAG-SHIP,   THE   BENTON.    181 

For  more  than  five  hours  the  gun-boats  engaged  the  enemy's 
batteries  at  close  quarters,  the  latter  having  thirteen  heavy  guns 
placed  on  commanding  heights  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  above  the  river.  We  lost  seventy-five  men  in  killed 
and  wounded,  and  silenced  all  the  enemy's  guns.  We  passed  all 
the  transports  by  the  batteries  without  damage,  and  General  Grant 
was  at  liberty  to  cross  the  Mississippi  and  commence  operations  on 
the  Vicksburg  side  as  soon  as  he  thought  proper. 

He  had  marched  some  thirty-two  thousand  men  to  the  point 
opposite  Grand  Gulf,  and  gun-boats  and  transports  were  all  assem 
bled  there,  waiting  to  go  whithersoever  they  were  wanted. 

General  Grant  witnessed  the  action  at  Grand  Gulf  from  a  tug 
in  the  middle  of  the  river. 

There  had  come  to  visit  the  army  three  persons  who  were  re 
ported  to  be  commissioners  sent  from  Washington  to  examine  into 
the  conduct  of  affairs — Mr.  E.  B.  Washburn,  Governor  Yates,  and 
Adjutant-General  Thomas.  These  gentlemen  were  on  board  the 
tug  with  General  Grant  during  the  engagement  between  the  forts 
and  the  gun-boats,  and  I  think  were  favorably  impressed  with  the 
result  of  the  conflict.  For  the  official  report  of  the  fight  I  must 
refer  my  readers  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy's  Annual  Report  for 
1863. 

When  night  came  I  made  General  Grant  and  the  commissioners 
very  comfortable  on  board  my  flag-ship,  the  Benton,  for  the  army, 
by  Grant's  order,  had  brought  no  tents,  and  to  old  General  Thomas 
I  gave  up  my  state-room.  On  such  occasions  people  will  be  jolly 
if  the  company  is  at  all  congenial,  and  that  night  formed  no  excep 
tion  to  the  rule. 

The  commissioners  expressed  their  satisfaction  that  the  army 
had  moved  from  before  Vicksburg,  and  that  we  could  keep  open 
communications  with  our  base  of  supplies. 

Sherman,  with  a  large  army  and  a  considerable  naval  force,  was 
left  near  Milliken's  Bend  to  act  as  might  be  advisable,  and  Grant 
could  either  get  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg  via  Bruensburg  or  try 
some  other  point. 

I  was  particularly  interested  that  night  in  making  General 
Thomas  comfortable,  helping  him  unpack  his  carpet-bag  and  get  out 
his  "  long  shirty"  in  which  attire  he  looked  every  inch  an  adjutant- 
general  !  To  supplement  his  "long  shirt,"  I  furnished  him  with  a 
•'night-cap,"  under  the  influence  of  which  the  old  gentleman  grew 
confidential  and  told  me  the  whole  story  of  the  commission. 


182  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"  Great  complaints,"  said  the  general,  "  have  come  to  the  Presi 
dent  from  some  one  in  the  army  before  Vicksburg  in  regard  to 
Grant's  manner  of  conducting  operations,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  there 
fore  determined  to  find  out  for  himself  the  true  state  of  affairs  ;  so 
he  sent  the  present  commissioners  to  examine  with  full  powers." 
Here  the  general  stopped  and  swore  me  to  secrecy.  Mr.  Washburn 
was  sent  as  the  fast  friend  of  General  Grant,  Governor  Yates  as  a 
man  in  whose  conscientious  opinions  the  President  could  depend, 
and  General  Thomas  "as  a  military  expert,  who  could  explain  to 
his  colleagues  the  exact  situation  of  affairs  and  the  defects  in  Grant's 
plans  if  any  existed  ! " 

"We  stopped  first,"  said  the  general,  "at  McClernand's  camp, 
to  ascertain  his  style  of  doing  things.  He  gave  us  a  grand  review 
and  a  good  lunch,  but  had  no  ice  for  his  champagne  ;  then  we  called 
on  Grant,  and,  Admiral,  I'll  give  you  a  piece  of  information." 

"Wait  a  moment,"  I  interrupted;  "your  throat  sounds  dry; 
try  this  glass  of  toddy  ;  it  will  make  you  sleep  like  a  top,  and  you 
won't  feel  the  mosquitoes." 

The  general  drank  it  down  without  winking.  "  You  would  have 
made  a  fortune,  Admiral,  as  a  barkeeper,"  he  said  ;  "  you  have  such  a 
talent  for  mixing  drinks  ;  but  don't  mention  what  I'm  going  to  tell 
you.  I  carry  in  my  bag  full  authority  to  remove  General  Grant  and 
place  whomsoever  I  please  in  command  of  the  army  ; "  and  the  old 
general  drew  himself  up  and  looked  at  me  as  much  as  to  say,  "  What 
do  you  think  of  that  ?" 

I  reflected  for  a  moment,  and  then  asked  whom  it  was  proposed 
to  put  in  Grant's  place. 

"Well,"  replied  General  Thomas,  "that  depends  ;  McClernand 
is  prominent." 

"General,"  I  said,  "no  doubt  your  plans  are  well  considered, 
but  let  an  old  salt  give  you  a  piece  of  advice.  Don't  let  your  plans 
get  out,  for  if  the  army  and  navy  should  find  out  what  you  three 
gentlemen  came  for,  they  would  tar  and  feather  you,  and  neither 
General  Grant  nor  myself  could  prevent  it." 

"  Is  it  possible  ? "  exclaimed  the  general.  "But  I  don't  intend 
to  do  anything.  We  are  delighted  with  all  we  have  seen,  so  there 
will  be  no  change.  I  should  have  pursued  the  same  course  as  Gen 
eral  Grant  had  I  been  in  command  myself  ! " 

"  Stick  to  that,  General,"  I  said,  "  and  don't  forget  that  I  am  in 
earnest  about  the  tar  and  feathers  ;  now  go  to  sleep  and  dream  of 
being  made  major-general  for  the  good  service  you  will  perform  by 


IN   THE   REAR   OF  VICKSBURG.  183 

telling  the  President  that  everything  has  been  done  that  could  be 
done,  that  the  army  and  the  navy  are  all  right,  and  that  Vicks- 
burg  will  be  ours  in  thirty  days,  if  not  sooner." 

I  never  mentioned  General  Thomas's  conversation  until  some 
years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  when  I  gave  General  Badeau,  who 
was  then  writing  the  "Military  History  of  General  Grant,"  my 
journal  to  look  over. 

I  have  read  several  accounts  of  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  but  none 
of  them  convey  a  good  idea  of  the  operations  which  led  to  the  fall 
of  that  stronghold.  The  true  history  of  the  siege  of  Vicksburg 
must  not  be  the  sensational  work  of  a  penny-a-liner.  It  will  be  a 
chronicle  of  patient  labor.  There  were  no  "dashing  moves"  while 
our  army  was  sitting  down  before  the  place  or  before  the  city  was 
turned.  There  was  no  place  to  dash  into  except  the  Mississippi 
Kiver. 

At  daylight,  on  the  morning  after  the  Grand  Gulf  fight,  the 
troops  began  to  throng  on  board  the  gun-boats  and  transports,  and, 
when  all  were  embarked,  we  headed  down  stream  instead  of  crossing 
over,  and  in  an  hour  and  a  half  hauled  up  at  Bruensburg,  on  the 
Vicksburg  side. 

There  some  thirty- two  thousand  men  with  rations  for  four  days 
were  landed,  and  then  commenced  that  remarkable  series  of  move 
ments  which  placed  our  army  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg,  our  troops 
forcing  their  way  between  two  formidable  armies  of  forty  thousand 
men  each,  posted  in  commanding  positions. 

Our  troops  had  to  assail  the  enemy  after  long  and  tortuous 
marches,  with  a  deep  river  on  one  side  and  almost  inaccessible  hills 
bristling  with  bayonets  to  oppose  them. 

It  was  in  my  opinion  the  most  remarkable  and  most  successful 
military  operation  of  the  civil  war,  and  was  the  crowning  move 
toward  placing  the  Father  of  Waters  once  more  under  the  absolute 
control  of  its  legitimate  rulers. 

If  any  one  had  heretofore  doubted  General  Grant's  ability,  it 
would  seem  that  the  latter's  arrival  on  the  heights  in  the  rear  of 
Vicksburg,  driving  Pemberton  with  forty  thousand  men  into  the 
intrenched  city,  and  causing  General  Joe  Johnston  with  an  equal 
force  to  retire  beyond  Jackson,  must  have  removed  his  doubts. 

I  at  once  opened  communication  with  Grant's  army  by  way  of 
the  Yazoo,  and  the  city  of  Vicksburg  was  in  a  day  or  two  sealed  up 
so  tight  that  even  the  "intelligent  contraband" found  it  impossible 
to  get  in  or  out. 


184:   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

There  we  will  leave  the  army,  for  we  can  not  tell  the  story  of 
the  hardships  and  trials  they  underwent,  the  disappointments  they 
suffered,  and  the  fortitude  they  exhibited. 

The  entire  operations  were  marked  by  a  happy  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  army  and  the  navy,  on  which  success  so  much  de 
pends  on  such  occasions. 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  an  army  which  started  out  with 
but  four  days'  rations  and  cut  themselves  off  from  their  base  of  sup 
plies  could  do  otherwise  than  live  upon  the  country.  There  were 
certain  regiments  in  that  army  which  had  a  reputation  as  pot-hunt 
ers  as  well  as  fighters,  and  one  of  these  was  the  13th  Iowa,  in  Gen 
eral  A.  J.  Smith's  brigade. 

Bruensburg  and  the  surrounding  country  was  the  great  depot 
for  live-stock,  grain,  etc.,  and,  in  twenty-four  hours  after  the  arrival 
of  our  army,  fresh  meat  abounded  in  camp,  and  the  soldiers'  lines 
seemed  to  have  fallen  in  pleasant  places.  Foraging  was  not  pro 
hibited  ;  in  fact,  the  soldiers  were  cautioned  to  save  the  Govern 
ment  rations  for  an  emergency  ;  so  that  the  squealing  of  pigs,  and 
the  bleating  of  calves  and  sheep,  and  the  cackling  of  poultry  were 
common  sounds  in  camp,  and  many  a  fence-rail  was  burned  to  cook 
provisions  for  some  veteran  who  had  proved  himself  a  good  forager. 

The  day  after  General  Grant's  arrival  at  Bruensburg,  so  goes  the 
story,  as  he  was  sitting  in  his  tent,  the  flap  was  pushed  aside  and 
an  old  rebel,  who  had  long  passed  the  time  to  bear  arms,  thrust  his 
head  through  the  opening.  In  his  hand  he  held  a  rope,  which  was 
attached  to  a  large,  raw-boned  mule  with  swelled  knees  and  minus 
an  eye.  At  least  twenty  summers  must  have  passed  over  the  head 
of  this  interesting  animal. 

The  old  fellow  gazed  curiously  at  the  general,  as  if  he  had  ex 
pected  to  see  one  of  the  huge  ogres  such  as  figure  in  the  chronicles 
of  Jack  the  Giant-Killer.  ' '  Be  you  the  gin'ral  of  this  here  army  ?  " 
he  inquired  ;  "  ef  so,  I  got  a  complaint  agin  one  of  your  rigiments, 
an'  I  want  you  to  'tend  to  it  to  onst.  I  don't  come  here  to  ask 
favors,  but  to  deman'  my  rights,  for,  if  these  ain't  granted,  dem  my 
picter  if  yer  don't  see  some  tall  talkin'  w'en  this  here  war's  over  an' 
the  Confed'rit  Gov'ment  makes  claim  for  damages  to  her  loyal  citi 
zens.  I'm  Abel  Doolittle,  that's  who  I  am,  an'  ef  I  hadn't  the  al- 
firedest  nicest  farm  in  all  these  parts  afore  your  bummers  come  along, 
I'll  swell  up  an'  sneeze.  An'  ef  you  don't  see  me  righted,  w'en  this 
blasted  war  is  ended,  you'll  hear  on  this,  I  tell  you  !  Fust  comes 
them  Confed'rit  fellers  an*  takes  two  tenths  uv  all  we  got,  an'  gin 


STORY  OF  AN   IOWA   REGIMENT.  185 

us  a  bar'l  uv  Confed'rit  shin-plasters  ;  then  comes  along  yer  blasted 
pot-hunters  an'  takes  the  tother  eight  tenths,  and  never  even  said 
Thank  ye  !  What  you  think  uv  that  ?  " 

"Didn't  they  give  you  a  receipt  ?"  inquired  the  general. 

"Receipt!  thunder!"  said  the  old  man.  "Yes,  they  giv'  us 
receipts  enough,  but  them  things  ain't  wuth  nothin' ;  an',  I  tell  you, 
I'm  goin'  ter  be  paid,  or  you'll  hear  on  it." 

"  What  is  your  complaint  ?  "  inquired  the  general. 

"Well,"  replied  the  old  man,  "I  ain't  got  no  complaint,  as  I 
knows  on  just  now,  ceptin'  the  rheumatiz  an'  fever  an'  ager,  same's 
all  ov  us  has  at  this  season." 

"I  mean,"  said  the  general,  "what  charges  have  you  to  make 
against  any  one  ?  Speak  out,  and  don't  take  up  my  time.  Here, 
Rawlins,  attend  to  this  man,"  and  the  general  walked  away. 

"Now,"  said  General  Rawlins,  "say  quickly  what  you  have  to 
say,  and  then  get  out  of  this." 

"Ah,  yes  !"  exclaimed  the  old  man,  "that's  demed  pretty  talk. 
You  fellers  come  along  and  eat  us  out  of  house  and  home,  an',  when 
a  man  wants  his  money,  you  turn  up  yer  nose  as  if  yer  owned  the 
Guano  Islands." 

"  What  happened  to  you  ?  "  said  Rawlins. 

"Why,"  said  the  old  fellow,  "I  had  the  finest  lot  ov  chickens, 
turkeys,  pigs,  an'  sheep  as  ever  you  seen,  but  dam'  my  buttons  ef 
you  fellers  ain't  gone  an'  tuk  everything  except  this  ole  muelv  an* 
an  ole  goose.  There  was  two  ov  them  geese,  an'  they  tried  one  uv 
'em ;  but  ef  a  hull  rigimint  didn't  break  their  teeth  out  after  tearin' 
away  at  that  ole  goose,  well,  I  don't  know  what  loosin'  teeth  is. 
Why,  Gin'ral,  ef  I  hadn't  brought  the  muel  away  they'd  a  eatin 
him." 

"  But  what  do  you  expect  me  to  do  ?  "  inquired  General  Raw 
lins.  "  How  are  you  going  to  find  out  who  did  all  that  you  com 
plain  of?" 

"Well,  I  know  who  did  it,"  said  the  old  fellow ;  "it's  one  of 
Gin'ral  A.  J.  Smith's  rigiments.  I  know  the  sargint  what  led  them 
men  on.  He  belongs  to  the  13th.  lowy,  an'  he  kin  skin  a  hog  quick- 
er'n  grease  lightnin'." 

Just  then  General  A.  J.  Smith  walked  into  the  tent.  "  Here, 
General,"  said  Rawlins,  "this  man  has  a  complaint  to  make  against 
some  of  your  boys." 

"What  is  it  ?"  said  General  Smith. 

"Just  what  I  tole  this  here  gin'ral,"  replied  the  old  man; 


186   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

"  your  men  come  on  ter  my  place  an'  they  stole  everythin'  they 
could  lay  han's  on,  an'  only  lef  me  an'  ole  goose  an'  this  ole  muel." 

The  general  looked  at  him  with  contempt.  "  Pray  what  regi 
ment  did  all  this  damage  ?  " 

"The  13th  lowy,"  said  the  man. 

"They  weren't  my  men,  thir,"  said  General  Smith.  "Ith's  a 
damned  lie  ;  they  never  were  on  your  farm.  I  know  my  boys  too 
well.  If  it  had  been  the  13th  Iowa  they'd  have  taken  everything 
on  the  place,  and  wouldn't  have  left  a  goose  or  a  mule  or  anything 
else.  No,  thir  !  my  boys  don't  do  things  in  that  way.  If  you  don't 
keep  your  eye  on  that  mule  they'll  get  him  away  from  you  before 
sundown." 

The  old  man  turned  around  to  gaze  upon  his  beloved  mule,  then 
shouted,  "  By  the  great  Jehosophat,  ef  they  ain't  gone  an'  tuk  him 
an'  leff  a  darned  sojer  at  the  end  of  the  rope  !  " 

General  Smith  glanced  proudly  around.  "Ah,  Eawlins!"  he 
said,  "  those  must  have  been  my  boys  after  all ;  if  I  could  only  hear 
that  they  had  eaten  the  old  man's  goose  I  should  be  certain  of  it." 

"  They're  a  hard  set,  General,"  said  Rawlins. 

"Yes,"  said  General  Smith,  "but  they  don't  cost  the  Govern 
ment  anything  for  transportation,  and,  no  matter  where  they  camp, 
they  find  a  store  of  provisions  half  an  hour  afterward." 

General  A.  J.  Smith  was  one  of  those  glorious  old  veterans  who 
shared  with  his  men  all  the  dangers  and  hardships  of  the  campaign. 
He  never  permitted  any  of  his  command  to  indulge  in  luxuries  if 
he  could  help  it ;  and  once,  in  trying  to  express  his  contempt  for 
a  certain  person,  said,  "He  is  one  of  those  fellows  who  carry  a 
shelter-tent ! " 

General  Smith  and  myself  served  together  a  good  deal,  and  I 
never  knew  him  to  falter.  He  was  as  brave  a  man  as  Grant  had  in 
his  army,  and,  although  he  allowed  his  men  a  great  deal  of  latitude, 
he  was  a  rigid  disciplinarian. 

My  first  meeting  with  General  A.  J.  Smith  was  an  amusing  one. 
It  took  place  at  Fort  Hindman,  Arkansas.  Fort  Hindman,  for 
merly  called  "  Arkansas  Post,"  was  captured  by  the  navy.  About  an 
hour  after  the  surrender,  when  the  prisoners  had  all  been  secured, 
a  large  number  of  Union  officers  on  horseback  were  seen  approach 
ing  the  fort.  The  marines  had  been  posted  as  sentinels,  and  the 
sailors  were  taking  the  prisoners  off  to  the  gun-boats.  An  adjutant 
galloped  up,  and,  jumping  from  his  horse,  sang  out,  "Get  out  of 
this ;  everybody  clear  the  fort.  General  Smith  is  coming  to  take 


FIRST  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  GENERAL  A.  J.   SMITH.  187 

possession.  Clear  out  at  once  ! "  The  naval  officers  were  watching 
the  approaching  cavalcade  from  the  summit  of  a  mound.  I  was 
dressed  in  a  blue  blouse  with  nothing  but  a  pair  of  small  shoulder- 
straps  to  indicate  my  rank,  and,  stepping  down,  I  said  to  the  new 
comer,  "  Who  are  you,  pray,  that  undertakes  to  give  such  orders 
here  ?  "We've  whipped  the  rebels  out  of  this  place,  and  if  you  don't 
take  care  we  will  clear  you  out  also  ! "  At  that  moment  General 
Smith  rode  in  with  the  cavalcade.  "Here,  General,"  said  the 
officer,  "  is  a  man  who  says  he  isn't  going  out  of  this  for  you  or 
anybody  else,  and  that  he'll  whip  us  out  if  we  don't  take  care ! " 
"Will  he,  be  God?"  said  General  Smith;  "will  he,  be  God?  Let 
me  see  him ;  bring  the  fellow  here  ! "  I  stepped  forward  and  said, 
"Here  I  am,  sir,  the  admiral  commanding  this  squadron."  At 
this  announcement  Smith  laid  his  right  hand  on  the  holster  of  his 
pistol.  I  thought,  of  course,  that  he  was  about  to  shoot  me,  but, 
instead  of  that,  the  general  hauled  out  a  bottle  and  said,  "  Be  God  ! 
Admiral,  I'm  glad  to  see  you ;  let's  take  a  drink  ! " 

This  was  the  origin  of  my  acquaintance  with  General  A.  J. 
Smith,  resulting  in  a  friendship  which  lasted  through  the  war. 

After  landing  the  army  at  Bruensburg  I  steamed  down  the  Mis 
sissippi  to  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  where  Farragut  was  in  the  Hart 
ford,  relieved  him  of  the  blockade  of  that  stream,  and  he  rejoined 
his  squadron.  Fort  Hudson  had  not  yet  surrendered. 

Then  I  started  up  Red  River,  took  possession  of  Fort  de  Russy, 
and  partly  destroyed  that  work. 

Farragut  had  cautioned  me  against  a  ram  said  to  be  building 
up  Red  River.  After  finishing  with  Fort  de  Russy  I  began  to  in 
quire  about  the  ram,  for  I  did  not  desire  to  suddenly  encounter  such 
an  enemy  while  turning  a  bend  in  the  river,  and  perhaps  lose  one 
or  more  of  my  vessels. 

I  entered  into  conversation  with  a  man  whom  we  met  near  Fort 
de  Russy,  and  said  to  him,  "  Well,  stranger,  I  hear  you  have  a  Con 
federate  ram  up  here  somewhere.  Whereabouts  is  she  ?  " 

"Lemme  think,"  said  the  native,  scratching  his  head  while 
going  through  the  thinking  process.  "Yes,  thar  is  a  ram  'bout 
eight  miles  above  hyar." 

' f  Is  it  a  powerful  one  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Wall,  I  reckon  you'd  think  so  ef  you  seen  it ;  it's  the  allfiredest 
strong  thing  ever  I  seen,  an'  I  guess  at  buttin'  it  ud  knock  them  ar 
bows  of  yourn  into  smithereens." 

"How  large  is  it  ?"  I  asked. 


188   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

""Wall,  it's  'bout  the  biggest  thing  I  ever  seen." 

"  Tell  me  all  about  it,"  I  said,  for  I  was  beginning  to  get  inter 
ested. 

"Wall,  Gin'ral,"  said  the  man,  "that's  easier  said  than  done. 
It's  an  allfired  buster,  an'  kin  beat  all  creation  at  buttin'.  That's 
all  I  knows  about  it.  I  seen  it  on  Mr.  Whi tier's  place,  as  I  tole  yer, 
eight  miles  above  hyar  ;  an*  one  day,  w'en  I  was  up  thar,  whar  thar 
war  a  bull  weighin'  twenty-eight  hunder,  an'  as  soon  as  the  bull  seen 
the  ram  he  'gan  to  paw  the  airth  an'  throwed  up  his  tail,  an'  the 
ram  put  down  his  head  an'  the  bull  bellered,  an'  they  went  slap 
dash  at  each  other,  an'  ef  that  ram  didn't  knock  daylights  out  o* 
that  bull,  and  knock  his  tail  out  by  the  roots,  and  his  horns  off,  and 
lay  him  out  as  flat  as  a  pancake,  I'm  a  liar  ! " 

"But,"  said  I,  "I  am  asking  you  about  a  Confederate  ram — a 
vessel  covered  with  iron." 

"Wall,  Gin'ral,"  said  the  man,  "I  don't  know  nothin'  'bout 
any  Confed'rit  ram,  but  I'm  sure  the  one  I  seen  could  knock  the 
bows  off  them  ar  turtles  ov  yourn  afore  you  could  wink,  an'  I  reckon 
he  mus'  be  a  Confed'rit  ram,  seem'  he  war  born  in  these  parts." 

Any  apprehensions  I  might  have  had  in  regard  to  a  Confederate 
ram  were  put  at  rest,  and  I  made  no  more  inquiries. 

I  was  afterward  informed  that  this  simple  native  whom  I  had 
questioned  was  a  Confederate  officer  in  disguise,  who  regaled  his 
friends  with  the  story  of  how  he  had  beguiled  the  Yankees.  How 
ever,  he  was  entirely  welcome  to  his  little  joke. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

SIEGE   OF  VICKSBURG. 

SEE  those  hills,  with  their  heads  so  defiant  and  bold, 
Standing  up  as  if  reared  by  the  Titans  of  old ; 
The  deep  rolling  river  just  laving  their  feet, 
And  the  cool  glens  and  valleys  defying  the  heat. 
There  are  caves  in  those  hills  where  a  ripple  of  light 
Scarce  enters  within — where  the  darkness  of  night 
Reigns  supreme,  like  some  great  and  imperial  king, 
Where  the  sun  not  even  a  shadow  can  fling ; 


SIEGE   OF  VICKSBURG.  189 

For  darkness  is  sovereign,  the  light  of  the  day, 

"When  peeping  in  there,  flies  frightened  away. 

The  thick  fog  in  the  noon-time  almost  baffles  the  sight, 

And,  obscuring  the  sun,  turns  day  into  night. 

On  the  rugged  hill-tops  great  forests  abound, 

And  the  day  throws  no  light  in  that  stillness  profound ; 

In  the  foreground  are  gorges,  rifted  and  torn 

By  fire  and  wind,  and  by  swift  torrents  worn, 

Where  brambles  and  scrub-oaks,  all  twisted  in  one, 

Bar  the  way  to  invaders  or  the  light  of  the  sun. 

High  on  the  plateau,  higher  than  all, 

Stands  the  labor  of  man — a  marvelous  wall — 

Its  guns  and  its  mortars  protecting  the  rear, 

Half-moons  and  counterscarps,  where  defenders  need  fear 

No  assailants  who'll  come  in  the  gloom  of  the  night. 

The  ramparts  are  manned  with  men  who  will  fight. 

Each  house  is  a  castle  throughout  the  old  town, 

And  the  front  with  strong  works  is  environed  around ; 

The  right  wing  is  protected  by  a  frightful  abyss, 

On  the  other  side  faced  by  a  steep  precipice  ; 

Here  would  be  scattered  assailants  and  all, 

And  they  long  would  remember  that  o'erhanging  wall. 

On  the  left  runs  a  line,  showing  bright  in  the  sun, 

Of  earth-works  in  numbers,  mounting  many  a  gun, 

With  rough-looking  rocks  crowding  round  them  in  piles, 

And  intrenchments  bewildering  extending  for  miles. 

This  is  Vicksburg — the  heart  of  this  terrible  strife — 

Prepared  at  all  points  to  contend  for  its  life. 

Ah  !  those  beautiful  valleys,  so  bright  and  serene, 

The  red  blood  will  deluge  their  grass-plots  so  green  ; 

The  hill-sides  and  rocks  will  be  soon  red  and  gory, 

And  in  ages  to  come  they'll  be  famous  in  story. 

We  surround  the  doomed  city,  the  pressure's  begun, 
And  we're  throwing  in  missiles  from  mortar  and  gun. 
Months  pass,  and  a  gloom,  like  the  mantle  of  death, 
Hangs  over  the  scene,  where  not  even  a  breath 
Of  hope  could  be  felt.     While  the  brave  foemen  fell 
By  the  hundreds  beneath  our  merciless  shell, 
We  bombarded  in  front,  we  assaulted  the  rear, 
And  every  attack  only  cost  us  more  dear. 


190   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

There's  an  end  to  endurance  ;  the  long-gnawing  fast 
Could  not  be  withstood  ;  the  fall  came  at  last. 

In  the  trenches,  in  battle,  ah  !  the  days  of  the  past 

Rose  before  the  poor  soldier  breathing  his  last ; 

He  would  turn  his  dimmed  eyes  to  the  light  in  the  west, 

And  waft  a  fond  sigh  to  those  he  loved  best. 

But  how  many  were  wrapped  in  the  garments  of  Death 

Who  welcomed  Life's  ending  !    War's  withering  breath 

Had  wrested  from  many  every  joy  in  this  life, 

For  what  joy  could  one  find  in  this  murderous  strife  ? 

Many  breathed  their  last  sigh  on  that  wide  gory  plain, 

And  welcomed  the  bullet  that  ended  their  pain. 

And  the  angels  rejoice  o'er  the  soldier's  repose, 

And  drop  tears  o'er  the  life  just  brought  to  a  close  ; 

For  no  longer  he'll  battle  on  the  chill,  dreary  plain 

With  hunger  and  thirst,  in  the  cold  sleety  rain, 

Where  day's  turned  to  night,  and  night  into  day, 

And  where  shrapnel  and  shell  sweep  hundreds  away. 

Thank  God  !  the  sweet  angel  of  mercy  is  by 

The  brave  soldier  who  dies,  and  will  catch  his  last  sigh ; 

Soars  aloft  with  his  soul,  while  never  again 

In  hardship  or  battle  will  it  grapple  with  pain. 

The  cold,  bitter  blasts  of  winter  have  come, 

And  bring  back  the  thoughts  of  a  once-cherished  home  ; 

The  snow,  which  is  red  with  the  blood  of  the  brave, 

Piles  up  in  rifts  o'er  the  poor  soldier's  grave  ; 

And  the  cold,  piercing  wind,  in  its  merciless  wrath, 

Is  howling  a  requiem  of  death  in  its  path, 

As  if  searching  for  something  still  further  to  blast, 

And  dealing  destruction  all  round  to  the  last. 

The  angel  of  mercy  sits  out  in  the  storm, 

A  halo  of  light  flashes  round  her  pure  form, 

And  she  drives  off  in  anger  that  demon  of  sin 

Who  is  watching  his  chance  in  the  storm  to  get  in, 

And  now  flies  in  dismay,  back,  back  to  his  shades, 

Down,  down  to  the  bottomless  pit  of  dark  Hades, 

For  God  in  his  mercy  claims  as  his  own 

Those  fallen  hi  war  who  great  honors  have  won. 


SIEGE   OF  VICKSBURG.  191 

There's  that  broken-down  soldier  sitting  out  in  the  storm ; 

Pinched  is  his  face  and  bent  is  his  form  ; 

His  uniform's  ragged,  his  whole  look  is  forlorn, 

His  breakfast  is  simply  a  handful  of  corn. 

Shivering  he  sits,  most  sad  is  his  look, 

He  has  no  commissariat,  no  victuals  to  cook. 

Torn  from  his  home — what  a  terrible  fate  ! — 

To  fight  'gainst  his  will  and  nourish  a  hate 

For  the  flag  he  once  loved,  and  that  beautiful  plan 

The  Creator  designed  for  the  freedom  of  man, 

What  can  console  him  ?  what  can  repay 

For  privations  he's  suffered,  his  life  thrown  away  ? 

Who  sits  by  his  side  in  the  withering  cold, 

Looking  so  sickly,  so  wretchedly  old  ? 

'Tis  a  comrade  he  cares  for.     He  can  scarce  draw  a  breath ; 

He  is  leaving  last  words,  he  is  fighting  with  Death. 

So  passes  the  night,  so  passes  the  day, 

Hundreds  by  Death  are  oft  snatched  away. 

Shot  and  shell  do  their  work,  but  privations  do  more, 

And  fill  up  the  grave-yard  along  the  lone  shore. 

See  that  bright  youth  of  eighteen,  looking  afar 
At  the  western  horizon,  on  the  bright  evening  star. 
Another  is  looking  at  that  star  in  the  west, 
And,  knowing  he  sees  it,  thinks  herself  blest. 
They  promised,  at  parting,  when  the  rays  of  the  sun 
Were  melting  in  twilight  and  the  day's  work  was  done, 
They'd  go  out  in  the  evening  and  look  at  that  star, 
And  their  souls  be  united,  though  parted  so  far. 
He  hears  the  sweet  chimes  of  the  soft  vesper  bell — 
And  quickly  he  knelt  as  it  soothingly  fell — 
And  he  sends  up  a  prayer  to  the  Ruler  on  high, 
And  falls  dead  as  he  kneels,  and  wafts  her  a  sigh, 
For  a  ball  strikes  his  heart.     He  will  see  her  no  more ; 
She  will  watch  now  alone,  his  watching  is  o'er. 
A  cloud,  dark  and  threatening,  obscures  all  the  west, 
And  that  poor  maiden  feels  she  no  longer  is  blest. 
Her  soldier  is  dead,  his  marching  is  done, 
An  angel  stoops  o'er  him,  a  triumph  is  won ; 
A  soul  flies  to  heaven,  there's  joy  in  the  skies, 
There's  a  whisper  of  mercy  as  upward  it  flies. 


192   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Look  at  those  soldiers,  how  they  hobble  away  ! 

There's  no  work  for  them  now,  they  can  no  longer  stay  ; 

They've  been  wounded  and  starved,  they  go  out  on  parole, 

Their  limbs  are  all  shattered,  naught  is  left  but  a  soul. 

At  night,  on  the  road,  they'll  have  no  place  to  lie, 

Yet  they'll  struggle  along,  for  they  go  home  to  die. 

Already  they  see  the  home-fire's  bright  glare, 

And  father,  and  mother,  and  sister  are  there. 

Though  they've  suffered  with  cold  and  have  no  place  to  sleep, 

And  live  on  mild  charity  as  onward  they  creep, 

They  keep  their  eyes  fixed  on  that  star  in  the  west ; 

Just  beneath  it  they  hope  to  find  welcome  and  rest. 

Yet  who  pities  the  pains  of  the  soldiers  so  poor  ? 

They  crawl  with  crushed  limbs  past  the  rich  man's  closed  door  ; 

Still  they  keep  their  eyes  fixed  on  that  star  in  the  sky, 

"Which  points  out  the  road  to  their  homes  where  they'll  die. 

The  poor  ones  would  help  them,  but  they  barely  can  live ; 

They  are  starving  themselves — they  have  nothing  to  give. 

Move  on  !  they  can't  help  you,  they  nothing  can  do  ; 

Go  to  some  richer  mansion — they  are  poorer  than  you. 

And  they  move  on.     At  night  on  the  wet  soil  they  lie, 

And  they  reach  home  at  last,  but  to  lie  down  and  die. 

And  the  bright  star  of  eve  still  shines  in  the  west, 

And  sheds  its  light  on  the  graves  of  the  soldiers  at  rest. 

Tears  are  shed  on  the  sod,  a  wife's  last  fond  claim, 

And  the  poor  soldier  sleeps — his  last  sleep — without  fame. 

Just  observe  those  sweet  villas,  once  with  beauty  bedecked, 

They  are  shattered  and  torn,  without  tenants,  and  wrecked. 

The  rose,  which  in  clusters  sheds  its  perfume  around, 

Is  lying  all  trampled  and  crushed  on  the  ground. 

Gaunt  desolation  now  dwells  in  those  halls, 

And  the  bomb-shells'  rude  blows  have  destroyed  all  the  walls ; 

The  owls  and  the  foxes  in  these  rooms  make  their  home. 

Those  who  lived  there,  and  loved  there,  now  have  to  roam, 

Seeking  for  shelter  in  damp  holes  in  the  hills, 

Breathing  foulest  of  air,  and  air  that  soon  kills. 

In  vain  they  seek  safety  ;  the  deep,  piercing  shell 

Makes  their  homes  in  the  caves  little  better  than  hell ; 

But,  though  suffering  all  evils,  and  without  light  of  day, 

They  kneel  down  at  eve  and  in  hopelessness  pray. 


SIEGE   OF  VICKSBURG.  193 

And  the  loose,  yielding  earth  only  gives  them  a  grave, 

For  they  die,  when  fast  sleeping,  with  no  hand  to  save. 

No  one  can  hear  that  loud,  piercing  cry 

That  ascends  to  their  God  (for  mercy)  on  high. 

In  ages  to  come,  men  in  digging  below 

Will  find  their  poor  bones,  but  they  never  will  know 

Of  the  anguish  and  pain  of  the  inmates  who  fell 

(In  the  close,  pent-up  cave)  by  the  deep,  piercing  shell. 

There    are  the    dead    in  their  graves  — in  long,    mournful 

rows — 

What  anguish  they  suffered  in  dying  1    Who  knows  ? 
Who  kept  a  record  ?    Who  is  there  can  tell 
Who  died  of  starvation,  or  whom  by  the  shell  ? 
All  we  know  is,  they  lie  by  the  deep  river  shore, 
A  board  at  their  heads  with  a  number — no  more. 
Friends  may  ask  for  their  bones,  when  the  war's  at  an  end ; 
Who  can  tell,  midst  that  crowd,  who's  relation  or  friend  ? 
What  havoc  those  bomb-shells  have  made  in  that  ground — 
Heads,  legs,  and  arms  all  scattered  around  ! 
No  peace  for  the  living,  no  peace  for  the  dead, 
What  cared  the  gunners,  so  Death  could  be  fed  ? 
Uprooted  are  coffins,  and  the  grave-yard  debris 
Is  scattered  about  in  confusion,  you  see. 
It  were  useless  to  try  and  regather  the  dead  ; 
That  can  not  be  done  till  the  day  when  the  dread 
Trumpet  calls  us  before  God's  awful  throne  ; 
Then  the  dead  will  all  rise  and  bone  spring  to  bone. 

That  street  is  much  torn  by  the  thirteen-inch  shell, 
Cobble-stone,  curb-stone  are  mixed  up  pell-mell 
With  remains  of  strong  horses  and  dead  mules  in  the  roads — 
They  were  all  blown  to  pieces  while  drawing  their  loads. 

See  those  stone-houses  crushed,  those  church-steeples  knocked 

down, 

And  disaster  and  ruin  all  over  the  town  ; 
No  pen  can  describe,  no  language  can  tell, 
The  terrible  blow  of  a  thirteen-inch  shell. 
It  bursts  in  the  air,  it  bursts  in  the  ground, 
And  scatters  its  death-dealing  fragments  around  ; 

13 


194   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

It  brings  sleepless  nights  when  it  bursts  in  the  air, 
And  warns  the  besieged  that  the  foe  is  still  there. 


Mark  that  company  coming  from  church.     A  fair  bride 

Has  an  officer  by  her — how  she  clings  to  his  side  ! 

They  have  plighted  their  vows  and  are  now  man  and  wife, 

And  have  promised  to  cling  to  each  other  through  life. 

Life's  uncertain  at  best,  and  how  little  we  know 

By  day  or  by  night  when  will  come  the  death-blow ! 

They  at  least  hope  to  gather  some  flowers  in  spring, 

And  sit  hand  in  hand  where  the  mocking-birds  sing, 

Or  list  to  the  lark  as  it  soars  in  the  sky, 

While  the  swift  mountain  stream  goes  murmuring  by. 

But  who,  in  their  wildest  conjectures,  could  tell 

These  two  were  to  die  by  a  murderous  shell  ? 

But  grim  Death  spares  neither  the  young  nor  the  old. 

It  did  not  spare  them  ;  the  story's  soon  told. 

Hand  in  hand  they  walked  on.     A  terrible  shell 

Burst  in  their  midst,  and  both  of  them  fell. 

A  Peri  from  paradise,  lingering  near  by, 

Flew  quick  to  the  spot  and  caught  their  last  sigh, 

And,  springing  aloft  quicker  than  thought, 

To  the  closed  gates  of  heaven  the  welcome  gift  brought. 

Here's  a  trophy  for  angels  ;  it  is  free  from  all  sin  ; 

Wide  open  the  gates,  let  me  bring  the  gift  in. 

Harps  of  seraphs  resound  through  the  portals  on  high, 

While  God's  hosts  rejoice  o'er  the  lovers'  last  sigh. 

Hark  !  hark  to  the  sound  of  the  evening  gun  ! 
The  night-watch  is  set  and  the  day's  work  is  done. 
The  sentry  on  post  walks  along  on  his  beat, 
And  all  that  is  heard  is  the  sound  of  his  feet ; 
He  is  thinking  of  mother  and  sisters  at  home, 
And  the  bright  joys  of  life  hereafter  to  come. 
He  stops  on  his  beat.     Say,  what  does  he  hear  ? 
'Tis  the  hoot  of  the  night-owl  which  strikes  on  his  ear. 
He  continues  his  walk  with  monotonous  tramp, 
Wraps  his  thin  coat  about  him,  the  night-air  is  damp  ; 
He  strides  on  while  he  looks  at  the  stars  in  the  west, 
Going  down,  one  by  one,  to  seek  their  night's  rest. 


SIEGE   OF  VICKSBURG.  195 

They  would  rise  in  the  morning,  and  again  they  would  set, 
And,  like  him,  make  their  rounds  o'er  their  pathway — but 

yet 

They  were  there  for  eternity  :  that  he  plainly  could  see  ; 
But,  hy  mid-day  to-morrow,  where  would  he  be  ? 
A  breeze  blows,  a  bough  breaks,  a  leaf  falls  to  the  ground  ; 
Again  he  now  stops  to  list  to  that  sound. 
Comes  a  shriek  through  the  air,  and  a  small  glittering  light ; 
It  descends  through  a  curve  and  dazzles  his  sight. 
He  watches  it  keenly  ;  it  comes  from  afar ; 
'Tis  a  fire-fly  surely,  or  a  small  falling  star. 
He  has  no  time  to  think  ;  it  drops  at  his  feet 
And  explodes,  tears  up  rocks.     He  falls  dead  on  his  beat. 
All  around  know  the  sound  of  that  bursting  too  well, 
And  turn  pale  o'er  the  work  of  that  merciless  shelL 
By  starlight  they  bear  him  to  the  deep  river's  side, 
And  inter  him  in  silence,  where  hundreds  have  died. 

Lo  !  there's  an  old  shattered  church,  all  ready  to  fall. 

See  how  the  green  ivy  still  clings  to  the  wall, 

As  a  woman  will  cling,  from  the  days  of  her  youth, 

To  the  man  whom  she's  loved,  who's  lost  honor  and  truth. 

But  the  ivy  and  tendrils  will  fall  to  the  ground, 

And  the  wall,  unsupported,  very  soon  will  come  down. 

Though  holy  the  church,  and  so  sacred  the  shrine, 

Shells  have  no  respect  for  walls  so  divine. 

In  war,  men  ne'er  think  of  the  ruin  they  bring 

On  the  sweet,  loving  homes,  or  the  most  sacred  thing. 

In  war,  man's  a  demon.     His  nature  set  free, 

His  soul  is  a  desert,  parched  as  deserts  can  be. 

From  its  throne  Human  Reason  steps  down  so  debased, 

Truth,  love,  pity,  friendship — all  soon  run  to  waste. 

Man,  urged  by  his  passions,  without  due  restraints, 

Will  desecrate  altars  and  martyrize  saints. 

There's  glory  and  fame  left.     Each  passion  a  snare, 

War  is  ruin  in  all  shapes ;  it  brings  but  despair. 

But  enough  of  this  subject.     Let  us  close  up  the  theme. — 

Of  the  great  horrors  there,  no  one  would  dream. — 

Gaunt  famine  killed  hundreds,  and  sickness  as  well, 

But  worse  came  from  the  fall  of  the  merciless  shell. 


196   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

There's  a  fete  in  old  Vicksburg.     The  great  and  the  small 

Are  preparing  to  go  to  the  officers'  ball, 

Just  to  throw  off  their  ennui,  gloom,  and  despair, 

Which,  with  famine  and  death,  pervade  the  foul  air. 

The  soldiers,  in  perfect  abandon,  no  doubt, 

Determine  to  have  all  their  friends  at  a  rout, 

Where  the  music  would  cheer,   and  sweet  converse  would 

flow, 

And  sound  like  the  echo  of  joys  long  ago. 
Little  dress  wants  the  soldier  :  he  has  made  his  toilet, 
He  is  booted  and  spurred,  has  skin  gloves  on,  and  yet 
He  needs  to  look  in  the  glass  to  adjust  his  cravat, 
Or  admire  his  curls,  ere  he  sits  down  to  chat. 
Pray,  why  this  grand  ball  ?    We  can  only  surmise. 
Is  't  that  lovers  may  bask  in  beauty's  bright  eyes  ? 
Or  that  viands  so  rare  would  enliven  the  sight, 
And  that  scents  of  sweet  flowers  would  perfume  the  night  ? 
No,  it  is  none  of  these.     There'll  be  no  viands  there, 
No  sherry  nor  champagne  selected  with  care ; 
No  tables  with  ices,  fruits,  or  salads  are  set, 
Where  the  gay  and  the  witty  in  laughter  are  met, 
Where  lights  so  resplendent  reflect  on  the  wall, 
And  make  each  one  remember  the  officers'  ball. 
Yet  they'll  bask  in  the  looks  of  the  dark  and  the  fair, 
"And  bring  back  the  smiles  which  joy  used  to  wear." 
There  is  nothing  there  but  music  full  sweet, 
Which  gives  pulse  to  the  heart  and  life  to  the  feet. 
The  men  come  to  woo  the  lovely  and  fair, 
And  they  all  come  this  eve  to  beguile  away  care, 
As  the  moths,  that  are  lost  in  the  gloom  of  the  night, 
Will  fly  on,  confiding,  to  the  hot,  glaring  light, 
Heedless,  forgetting,  the  poor  foolish  things  ! 
That  in  wooing  the  light  they  are  burning  their  wings. 
It  is  but  a  change  in  their  terrible  life — 
To  get  rid,  for  an  hour,  of  gloom  and  of  strife, 
Though  they  only  could  hope  to  go  back  in  the  morn 
To  their  caves  where  they'd  cherished  their  hatred  and  scorn. 
The  fair  ones  wear  neither  bracelet  nor  ring ; 
They've  sold  all  for  their  cause— Kebellion  is  king. 
They  are  neither  adorned  with  pearls  nor  rich  laces ; 
The  attractions  they  have  are  their  forms  and  their  facea, 


SIEGE   OF  VICKSBURG.  197 

Which,  though  marked  with  strong  lines  of  sorrow  and  care, 

Possess  all  the  grace  of  their  class — which  is  rare. 

They  dim  with  their  brightness  each  planet  and  star 

Which  beams  on  those  beautiful  dames  from  afar ; 

No  diamonds  can  vie  with  their  sparkling  black  eyes, 

Which  are  brighter  by  far  than  those  lights  in  the  skies, 

And  their  faces  but  look  more  lovely  and  fair, 

Rich  framed  in  full  coils  of  bright  golden  hair. 

Dressed  in  plain  fashion,  they  came  one  and  all, 

Each  worthy  to  be  the  belle  of  the  ball. 

Their  rich  dresses  have  gone  to  the  hospital  store, 

To  be  used  for  the  wounded  ;  and,  such  as  they  wore, 

Are  the  simplest  and  cheapest  chenille  to  be  found, 

And  their  shoes  are  so  worn  their  feet  touch  the  ground. 

This  gay  night  many  dance,  forgetting  their  ills, 

While  others  sit  leaning  on  the  cool  window-sills. 

Some  round  the  ball-room  gracefully  walk 

With  their  lovers,  while  others  sit,  flirt,  and  talk. 

The  ball-room's  a  barrack,  where  the  murderous  shell, 

In  the  worst  of  the  siege,  never  yet  fell ; 

And  none  there  ever  thought  that  shrapnel  or  ball 

Could  invade  this  retreat — so  thick  was  the  wall. 

Silently,  slowly  the  fleet  moves  away 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  where  in  safety  it  lay, 

And  it  drifts  along  quietly,  moved  on  by  the  stream, 

Not  turning  the  wheels  or  using  the  steam, 

All  looking  like  phantom-ships  groping  their  way 

Through  the  darkness  of  night  to  the  confines  of  day. 

They  move  o'er  the  river  with  the  silence  of  death  ; 

None  whisper  a  word,  or  draw  a  long  breath. 

The  moon  has  gone  down,  there's  no  sound  in  the  camp, 

Not  even  is  heard  the  sentry's  loud  tramp. 

That  sentry's  neglectful ;  he  must  be  asleep  ; 

No  good  soldier  in  war  such  poor  vigil  would  keep. 

Not  so  in  this  instance.     The  soldier's  keen  sight 

Catches  phantom-ships  drifting  along  in  the  night, 

And  the  fire  leaps  forth  along  the  broad  shore, 

And  is  answered  at  once  by  the  cannon's  loud  roar. 

The  ball  is  deserted,  not  a  moment  is  lost, 

Each  officer  rushes  at  once  to  his  post. 


198   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

The  husband  stops  not  to  speak  one  fond  adieu 

To  the  wife  of  his  soul,  and  the  lover  so  true 

Tears  away  from  his  idol,  with  sorrow  and  pain, 

To  marshal  his  men.     They  ne'er  meet  again. 

From  fortress  and  valleys,  from  casemates  on  high, 

Bine-shell,  shrapnel,  and  grape-shot  now  fly  ; 

And  the  fleet  lends  its  cannon  to  add  to  the  din, 

And  each  soul  is  now  nerved  this  battle  to  win. 

But  the  shell  from  the  ships  sweep  o'er  the  broad  plain, 

And,  bursting  in  air,  is  re-echoed  again 

O'er  the  hill-tops,  in  caves,  or  wherever  they  fall. 

They  e'en  burst  on  the  scene  of  the  officers'  ball. 

There  is  grief  in  the  camp,  and  loud  wailing  this  night, 

For  the  wounded  and  dead  who  fell  in  that  fight. 

But  the  fires  burned  down,  leaving  Vicksburg  in  gloom, 

And  the  phantom-ships  floated  on — sealing  her  doom. 

The  besieged  fight  boldly  'mid  the  fire  and  blaze, 

But  their  efforts  are  vain  ;  they  look  on  in  amaze 

At  the  phantom-ships  floating  along  on  the  stream, 

And  passing  so  swiftly,  without  using  steam. 

Who  can  tell  what  despair  envelops  them  all 

As  they  fly  to  the  place  where  the  officers'  ball 

Had  been  held  ?    It  had  been  swept  by  the  shell, 

And  dying  and  dead  are  now  mingled  pell-mell. 

The  eyes  that  once  sparkled,  and  were  wont  to  beguile, 

Are  now  closed  in  death.     Lips  no  longer  smile. 

Their  reward  is  in  heaven  for  the  good  they  have  done  ; 

Their  misfortunes  are  over,  their  battle  is  won. 

Once  more  are  united  the  blue  and  the  gray — 

Eancor  and  hatred  have  both  passed  away. 

No  longer  war's  ogres,  the  defense,  and  the  siege, 

Keep  up  hostile  feeling — the  Union  is  liege. 

The  atmosphere,  filled  with  thick  smoke  and  gloom, 

No  longer  resounds  with  the  cannon's  loud  boom. 

Peace  reigns  triumphant  all  over  the  land, 

And  the  North  and  the  South  move  on  hand  in  hand. 

Death  in  his  avarice  has  glutted  the  grave, 

War  has  bathed  its  foul  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  brave ; 

But  the  sun  shines  again,  as  bright  as  of  yore, 

And  the  gay  stars  of  heaven  all  twinkle  once  more, 


SIEGE  OF  VICKSBURG.—GENERAL  GRANT.  199 

"While  the  moon,  going  down  in  its  daily  decline, 

Sheds  a  soft  mellow  light  on  our  tents  all  in  line, 

Where  our  soldiers  are  resting  in  honor  and  glory, 

And  are  eulogized  now  in  ballad  and  story. 

The  spirits  of  good  in  high  heaven  all  smile 

On  the  brave  boys  in  blue — the  rank  and  the  file — 

And  sailors,  God  bless  them  !  who  in  days  that  are  past, 

In  misfortune  or  glory,  fought  on  to  the  last, 

And  were  always  so  faithful,  and  pressed  on  the  more, 

When  memory  brought  back  the  hard  fighting  of  yore. 

Dear  reminiscences  :  they  mellow  with  time, 

And  those  dread  scenes  of  war  seem  almost  sublime, 

Like  old  wine  that's  been  binned  and  bottled  for  years, 

Is  more  tasteful  with  age,  and  more  precious  appears. 

Now  we  look  back  again  on  those  terrible  days, 

And  would  give  to  each  one  his  due  meed  of  praise. 

For  those  who  were  killed,  tears  of  sorrow  will  fall, 

And  warm  hearts  in  remembrance  still  beat  for  them  all. 

Now  our  flag  waves  serene,  and  its  stars  brightly  shine, 
And  the  sun  gilds  its  stripes  with  a  halo  divine, 
I  will  drink  to  the  past  in  a  bumper  of  wine. 
That  past  which  to  many  seemed  doubtful  at  first 
Was  hopeful  to  me  e'en  when  looking  its  worst. 

In  the  history  of  the  world's  sieges  nothing  will  be  found  where 
more  patience  was  developed,  more  endurance  under  privations,  or 
more  courage  shown,  than  by  the  Union  forces  at  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  while  on  the  part  of  the  besieged  it  was  marked  by 
their  great  fertility  of  resource  in  checking  almost  every  movement 
of  ours,  and  for  the  long  months  of  suffering  and  hardship  they 
underwent. 

It  belongs  of  right  to  General  Grant  to  tell  the  story  of  that 
event,  for  in  no  case  during  the  war  did  he  more  clearly  show  his 
title  to  be  called  a  great  general,  nor  did  he  elsewhere  more  fully 
exhibit  all  the  qualities  which  proved  him  to  be  a  great  soldier. 

If  General  Grant  had  never  performed  any  other  military  act 
during  the  war,  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  alone,  with  all  the  cir 
cumstances  attending  the  siege,  would  have  entitled  him  to  the 
highest  renown.  He  had  an  enemy  to  deal  with  of  greater  force, 
and  protected  by  defenses  never  surpassed  in  the  art  of  war. 


200  INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I  saw,  myself  (at  Sevastopol),  the  great  strongholds  of  the 
Malakoff  tower  and  the  Eedan  the  day  after  they  were  taken  by  a 
combined  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  ;  and  these  strong 
holds,  which  have  become  famous  in  ballad  and  story,  never  in  any 
way  compared  with  the  defenses  of  Vicksburg,  which  looked  as  if  a 
thousand  Titans  had  been  put  to  work  to  make  these  heights  un 
assailable.  I  am  told  that  there  were  fifty  miles  of  intrenchments 
thrown  up  one  within  the  other.  I  don't  know  how  true  it  is. 

The  hills  above,  with  their  frowning  tops  standing  in  defiance, 
were  enough  to  deter  a  foe  without  having  intrenchments  bristling 
with  cannon  and  manned  by  the  hardiest  troops  in  the  Confeder 
acy. 

After  it  was  all  over,  and  General  Grant  could  see  the  con 
quered  city  lying  at  his  feet,  he  could  well  afford  to  laugh  at  his 
traducers,  who  were  doing  all  they  could  to  hamper  him  by  send 
ing  telegrams  to  the  seat  of  Government  questioning  his  fitness  for 
so  important  a  command. 

If  those  who  lent  themselves  to  such  things  could  be  followed 
through  the  war,  it  would  be  found  that  they  never  made  a  mark, 
put  them  where  you  would  ;  nor  did  they  achieve  any  good  for  the 
Government. 

That  was  a  happy  Fourth  of  July  when  the  Confederate  flag 
came  down  at  Vicksburg  and  the  stars  and  stripes  went  up  in  its 
place,  while  Meade's  force  at  Gettysburg  was  driving  Lee's  army 
back  to  Richmond  tattered  and  torn. 

That  day,  so  glorious  in  the  annals  of  our  history,  lost  nothing 
by  the  two  brilliant  events  which  were  added  to  our  fame,  and 
made  it  still  more  dear  to  the  heart  of  every  true  American. 

When  the  American  flag  was  hoisted  on  the  ramparts  of  Vicks 
burg,  my  flag-ship  and  every  vessel  of  the  fleet  steamed  up  or  down 
to  the  levee  before  the  city.  We  discerned  a  dust  in  the  distance, 
and  in  a  few  moments  General  Grant,  at  the  head  of  nearly  all  his 
generals  with  their  staffs,  rode  up  to  the  gangway,  and,  dismount 
ing,  came  on  board.  That  was  a  happy  meeting — a  great  hand 
shaking  and  general  congratulation. 

I  opened  all  my  wine-lockers — which  contained  only  Catawba — 
on  this  occasion.  It  disappeared  down  the  parched  throats  which 
had  tasted  nothing  for  some  time  but  bad  water.  Yet  it  exhila 
rated  that  crowd  as  weak  wine  never  did  before. 

There  was  one  man  there  who  preserved  the  same  quiet  de 
meanor  he  always  bore,  whether  in  adversity  or  in  victory,  and  that 


GENERAL  GRANT'S   STUPENDOUS  FEAT.  201 

was  General  Grant.  No  one,  to  see  him  sitting  there  with  that 
calm  exterior  amid  all  the  jollity,  and  without  any  staff,  would 
ever  have  taken  him  for  the  great  general  who  had  accomplished 
one  of  the  most  stupendous  military  feats  on  record. 

There  was  a  quiet  satisfaction  in  his  face  that  could  not  be  con 
cealed,  but  he  behaved  on  that  occasion  as  if  nothing  of  importance 
had  occurred. 

General  Grant  was  the  only  one  in  that  assemblage  who  did  not 
touch  the  simple  wine  offered  him ;  he  contented  himself  with  a 
cigar ;  and  let  me  say  here  that  this  was  his  habit  during  all  the 
time  he  commanded  before  Vicksburg,  though  the  same  detractors 
who  made  false  representations  of  him  in  military  matters,  misrep 
resented  him  also  in  the  matter  above  alluded  to. 

For  my  part,  I  was  more  than  pleased  to  see  Vicksburg  fall,  for 
I  realized  my  proudest  hopes  in  beholding  the  great  Father  of 
Waters  opened  to  the  sea,  and  lived  to  see  all  my  predictions  ful 
filled.  I  was  one  of  the  first  who  urged  that  all  the  power  of  the 
Government  should  be  exerted  to  get  possession  of  this  stronghold, 
and  I  gave  my  whole  attention  during  the  siege  to  bring  about 
this  most  desirable  event. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

A  CHIEF  OF  STAFF  AKD   A  CHIEF  COOK — DEMOCRATIC   MEETING  IK 
THE  BACKWOODS   OF    "EGYPT"— A   JOHtf   GILPI^   EACE. 

AFTER  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  I  proceeded  to  Mound  City,  Illi 
nois,  to  superintend  affairs  on  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  Riv 
ers,  and  to  increase  the  size  of  the  Mississippi  squadron,  which  had 
diminished  in  numbers  since  the  commencement  of  the  siege. 

It  would  be  as  difficult  to  do  full  justice  to  the  navy  for  its  per 
sistent  efforts  to  put  an  end  to  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  as  it  would 
be  to  the  army  for  its  fortitude  amid  privations  and  dangers  and 
its  discipline  maintained  during  so  peculiar  a  condition  of  affairs. 

I  am  sure  that  General  Grant  will  with  pleasure  testify  to  the 
zeal  with  which  the  naval  forces  before  Vicksburg  at  all  times  co 
operated  with  the  army. 


202   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

On  my  arrival  at  Mound  City,  I  found  the  place  under  water, 
owing  to  a  rise  in  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  and  we  might 
truly  be  said  to  live  among  the  trees. 

Quite  a  controversy  was  prevailing  with  regard  to  rank  between 
the  officers  of  the  line  and  staff,  and  Captain  Pennock,  chief  of 
staff,  had  his  hands  full  in  trying  to  reconcile  the  numerous  diffi 
culties  and  misunderstandings.  In  fact,  I  found  that  I  had  arrived 
just  in  time  to  prevent  a  regular  row  at  the  station. 

The  surgeon  of  the  fleet,  Dr.  P.,  was  one  of  the  cleverest  of 
men  personally  and  professionally,  and  afforded  a  fresh  illustra 
tion  of  the  old  saying  that  the  most  valuable  goods  are  generally 
put  up  in  the  smallest  packages.  The  fleet-surgeon  was  of  a  social 
disposition,  and  a  favorite  with  everybody,  but  woe  to  any  one  who 
ran  counter  to  him  on  the  subject  of  rank,  or  invaded  what  he  con 
sidered  his  rights.  He  would  get  out  his  brace  of  Derringers,  and 
whoever  had,  affronted  him  must  make  the  amende  honorable  or 
fight. 

I  had  fitted  up  a  large  steamboat,  captured  from  the  enemy,  as 
a  hospital-ship  to  follow  the  squadron  on  the  eve  of  a  battle  and 
take  on  board  the  wounded.  The  Eed  Rover  was  fitted  with  every 
comfort,  and  poor  Jack,  when  sick  and  wounded,  was  cared  for  in  a 
style  never  before  dreamed  of  in  the  navy.  All  these  arrangements 
were  made  under  the  supervision  of  the  fleet-surgeon,  who  had 
full  charge  of  the  vessel  when  completed,  but  at  the  same  time  she 
had  a  commanding  officer,  an  old  steamboat  man  who  maintained 
discipline  among  the  crew. 

I  had  been  intimate  with  Dr.  P.  from  the  time  when  I  was 
a  youngster,  and  he  took  advantage  of  this  intimacy  to  come  to  me 
at  all  hours  with  complaints,  and  if  I  did  not  succeed  in  pacify 
ing  him  in  one  way,  I  usually  did  in  another. 

One  day  the  doctor  came  to  me.  "Admiral,"  said  he,  "these 
fellows  around  here  whom  I  rank  all  to  pieces  are  running  their 
rigs  on  me  about  my  command,  and  laughing  at  me  because  I  can't 
wear  a  pennant.  Now,  sir,  I  want  you  to  give  me  a  flag  to  wear. 
I  am  next  in  rank  to  you,  and  I  think  it  hard  I  should  be  ridiculed 
by  these  youngsters." 

"Why,  Doctor,"  I  replied,  "that  would  be  an  unheard-of  thing 
to  give  the  fleet-surgeon  a  flag  ;  as  it  is,  you  are  enjoying  unusual 
authority,  being  actually  in  command  of  a  vessel  of  war,  for  the 
captain  of  the  Red  Rover  is  directed  to  obey  all  your  commands, 
notwithstanding  the  Regulations  of  the  Navy  provide  that  medical 


THE  FLEET-SURGEON   WANTS   A  FLAG  TO  WEAR.  203 

officers  shall  exercise  no  military  authority.     If  I  give  you  a  flag, 
the  line  officers  will  think  I  have  gone  crazy. " 

"  Oh,  no,  Admiral,"  said  the  doctor  ;  "  if  you  grant  my  request 
no  one  will  think  anything  of  it.  It  will  increase  my  prestige. 
You  know  this  is  a  peculiar  kind  of  a  service ;  give  me  a  flag,  and 
my  happiness  will  be  complete." 

"  Well,  Doctor,"  I  said,  "I  will  think  about  it." 

"  Now  there's  another  matter,  Admiral,"  said  the  doctor ;  "  I 
think  the  Red  Hover  ought  to  have  a  gun  to  protect  herself  in  case 
of  attack." 

"  But,"  I  rejoined,  "  hospital  vessels  are  held  sacred  in  all  civ 
ilized  countries,  and  no  one  will  trouble  you ;  besides,  the  Mississippi 
is  open  its  whole  length,  and  there  are  no  guerrillas  along  the  banks." 

"Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  doctor,  "but  I  might  want  to  fire  a  sig 
nal-gun,  and  I  might  as  well  carry  a  thirty-pounder  so  that  I  can  be 
ready  to  fight  and  make  signals  too." 

"Well,  I  will  consider  the  matter,"  I  said,  and  the  little  doctor 
went  off  delighted. 

In  three  days  I  had  a  flag  of  yellow  bunting  with  an  anchor  in 
the  center  for  the  hospital  ship,  to  be  carried  at  the  middle  pole, 
and  a  thirty-pounder  rifle  for  the  bow. 

The  doctor  was  delighted  when  he  went  on  deck  one  morning 
and  found  his  flag  streaming  from  the  pole,  while  the  stars  and 
stripes  floated  at  the  stern  and  the  jack  ornamented  the  bow.  He 
immediately  put  on  his  full-dress  coat  and  called  upon  me  to  thank 
me,  little  dreaming  that  his  thirty-pounder  rifle  was  made  of  wood. 

The  doctor  commenced  immediately  to  claim  increased  rank, 
and  for  the  next  two  weeks  there  was  a  constant  controversy  be 
tween  him  and  the  commanding  officers  of  the  gun-boats. 

Although  these  difficulties  were  not  brought  officially  before 
me,  yet  I  heard  of  them,  and  was  thinking  of  some  way  to  remedy 
them,  when  an  amusing  circumstance  occurred  which  brought  the 
fleet-surgeon  down  from  his  high  horse. 

One  day  the  doctor  dined  with  me,  and,  as  he  loved  his  glass  of 
wine,  he  was  feeling  very  dignified  when  he  got  up  to  go  on  board 
his  vessel,  for  the  regulations  required  that  no  one  should  be  absent 
from  his  command  after  sunset. 

As  the  fleet-surgeon  passed  over  the  side  the  sentry  presented 
arms,  the  officer  of  the  deck  touched  his  hat,  and  the  doctor 
straightened  up  with  the  consciousness  that  he  was  now  a  person  of 
increased  importance. 


204    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

As  he  walked  up  the  levee  he  met  a  sailor  who  had  evidently 
been  indulging  in  the  flowing  bowl,  for  he  pitched  about  like  a  ship 
in  a  gale  of  wind  and  took  up  the  whole  of  the  roadway,  finally 
running  afoul  of  the  little  doctor,  which  brought  them  both  up 
"  all  standing,"  as  the  nautical  phrase  is. 

"  Whaz  the  mazzer  with  you  ?"  said  the  sailor  ;  "ain't  you  got 
nary  pilot  aboard  ?  " 

"  What's  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  roared  the  doctor ;  "  can't  you 
see  where  you  are  going  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  man,  "  see  well  'nuff,  an',  d— n  it,  you  get  out 
of  my  way  or  I'll  knock  hole  'tween  wind  and  wasser." 

ff  Why  don't  you  touch  your  hat  to  me,  you  scoundrel  ?  "  said 
the  doctor. 

"  Touch  my  hat  to  you  ?  "  he  said  ;  "  wha'  for  ?  " 

"  Don't  you  see  my  uniform  ?  don't  you  know  who  I  am  ?  " 

"No,  my  little  man,"  said  the  sailor ;  "  who  the  devil  are  you 
anyhow  ?  " 

"  I  am  the  fleet-surgeon  of  the  Mississippi  squadron  !  " 

"  0  thunder  ! "  exclaimed  the  other ;  "  well,  little  fellow,  you've 
got  a  good  berth  an'  you'd  better  hole  on  to  it ;  but  I'm  a  huckle 
berry  above  that  persimmon,  'cause  I'm  the  chief  cook  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Squadron,  an'  you  can't  come  any  of  yer  chief  surgeon  over 
me,"  and  with  that  he  staggered  off,  grumbling,  "  Chief  surgeon, 
indeed,  expectin'  chief  cook  touch  hat  to  him — whas  the  world 
comin'  to  ?  " 

The  doctor  gazed  on  the  fellow  as  he  tumbled  on  board  the 
flag-ship,  and  if  he  had  had  one  of  his  Derringers  handy  I  fear  it 
would  have  been  all  up  with  the  chief  cook ;  but,  as  he  hadn't,  he 
returned  to  his  own  vessel  a  wiser  man.  He  had  eaten  too  many 
of  the  chief  cook's  dinners  not  to  know  the  importance  of  that  func 
tionary,  so  he  didn't  mention  the  occurrence. 

But  there  is  always  some  one  around  to  pick  up  a  good  joke  and 
tell  it,  so  I  was  soon  informed  of  what  had  happened. 

Next  day,  when  several  officers  were  dining  with  me,  among 

them  Dr.  P ,  I  told  the  story  of  the  chief  surgeon  and  the  chief 

cook,  and  no  one  laughed  heartier  than  the  doctor.  From  that  time 
forth  he  was  less  exacting  on  the  subject  of  rank,  though  occasion 
ally  he  would  talk  of  using  his  Derringers. 

The  doctor  was  a  strong  Democrat  and  a  great  politician,  though 
there  was  not  a  more  loyal  officer  in  the  service.  He  claimed  that 
there  were  as  many  Democrats  as  Kepublicans  in  both  the  army  and 


DEMOCRATIC  MEETING  IN   "EGYPT,"  ILLINOIS.       205 

the  navy,  in  which  I  believe  he  was  not  far  out  of  the  way.  In 
fact,  many  persons  stigmatized  as  "  Copperheads  "  during  the  war 
were  really  opposed  to  the  Rebellion,  yet  such  was  the  morbid  con 
dition  of  the  public  mind  that  neither  party  could  see  any  virtue 
in  the  other,  and  the  wonder  is  that  the  civil  war  was  ever  termi 
nated  until,  like  the  Kilkenny  cats,  both  parties  had  been  devoured. 

I  never  encouraged  officers  to  discuss  politics  at  all,  and,  as  a 
rule,  officers  of  the  navy  were  exempt  from  political  bias,  and  con 
sidered  that  it  was  their  duty  to  heartily  support  the  Government 
in  any  measures  which  might  be  taken  to  preserve  the  Union.  This 
was  my  view  of  the  subject,  and  I  tried  to  impress  it  upon  others, 
and  succeeded  in  excluding  politics  from  the  mess-table. 

But  I  could  not  control  the  fleet-surgeon,  who  would  ride  ten 
miles  on  horseback  to  attend  a  political  meeting,  in  which  he  would 
denounce  the  Administration  and  maintain  that  without  the  Demo 
cratic  soldiers  and  Democratic  money  the  Union  cause  would  be 
hopeless. 

With  such  views,  expressed  in  a  very  forcible  manner,  the  little 
doctor  was  likely  to  get  into  trouble,  and  I  received  one  or  two  com 
munications  from  Washington  about  him  which  made  me  fear  that 
I  might  lose  his  services  unless  he  became  more  guarded  in  his 
utterances. 

Mound  City,  where  the  naval  station  was  situated,  is  in  that 
part  of  Illinois  known  as  "Egypt,"  and  the  condition  of  the  rural 
population  in  that  quarter  was  rather  primitive. 

"A  great  Democratic  meeting"  was  to  be  held  on  a  certain  day 
a  few  miles  from  Mound  City,  and  the  little  doctor  resolved  to  be 
present.  He  therefore  provided  himself  with  a  speech,  borrowed  a 
racing  mare  from  me,  and,  clothed  in  his  uniform,  set  out  for  the 
scene  of  action. 

There  was  a  large  assemblage  of  persons  of  the  genuine  peanut- 
and-molasses-candy  stripe,  and,  when  the  fleet-surgeon  hove  in  sight 
on  his  racing  mare,  he  was  received  with  loud  applause. 

Speaking  was  fairly  under  way  at  the  time,  and  a  blood-and- 
thunder  orator  was  laying  down  what  he  affirmed  to  be  the  true 
principles  of  Democracy,  when  the  doctor  interrupted  him,  calling 
out,  "You  don't  know  what  Democracy  means  as  laid  down  by 
Thomas  Jefferson  ! " 

"Who  in  thunder  are  you?"  said  the  orator.  "You're  too 
small  a  man  to  be  a  Democrat ;  we  want  fellows  big  enough  to 
vote." 


£06    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

The  doctor  felt  for  his  pistol,  but,  fortunately,  he  had  left  it  on 
shipboard,  so,  shaking  his  fist  at  the  orator,  he  sang  out,  "Wait  till 
I  get  the  floor,  and  I  will  strip  off  all  your  borrowed  plumes  and 
show  you  up  in  your  true  colors  ! " 

"Let  the  little  fellow  speak  !"  cried  out  a  dozen  voices  ;  "let's 
hear  what  true  Democratic  principles  are,"  and  a  large  man  picked 
the  doctor  up  and  dumped  him  upon  the  platform. 

"There,  now,  my  little  man,"  said  his  bearer,  "let's  hear  a  true 
exposition  of  Democratic  principles.  You  ain't  much  to  look  at, 
but  I'll  bet  you  know  more  about  Democracy  than  any  one  in  this 
crowd." 

The  doctor  did  not  require  any  urging ;  such  an  opportunity 
did  not  occur  every  day,  and  he  at  once  commenced  his  speech  : 

"  Fellow-citizens  !  you  see  before  you  a  man  who  has  never  failed 
to  maintain  the  true  principles  of  Democracy  under  all  circum 
stances — " 

"Louder!  louder!"  shouted  the  crowd;  "let's  see  the  little 
man.  He's  got  a  heap  of  wisdom  inside  that  brass-bound  coat  of 
his  !  Who  is  he,  anyhow  ?  Tom  Thumb  !  Daniel  Lambert ! "  and 
so  on,  until  the  doctor  grew  quite  bewildered. 

An  empty  hogshead  was  brought  forward  and  the  doctor  placed 
thereon,  in  order  that  he  might  be  visible  to  his  audience. 

"Now  go  ahead  !"  they  shouted  ;  "don't  be  bashful ;  don't  be 
afraid  ;  nobody  will  hurt  you  !  " 

"If  I  had  my  pistols  here  I'd  show  you  who's  afraid,"  said  the 
surgeon,  whose  dander  was  now  up.  At  which  the  crowd  gave  him 
three  cheers  that  made  the  welkin  ring. 

The  doctor  soon  regained  his  composure,  and  commenced  again, 
"  Fellow-citizens  !  you  see  before  you — "  and  suddenly  the  head 
of  the  hogshead  gave  way  and  the  orator  disappeared  from 
view. 

He  was  fished  out  mad  as  a  hornet,  while  the  crowd  shouted : 
"Get  another  hogshead  !  lift  him  on  your  shoulders  !  let's  hear  all 
about  the  true  Democratic  principles,"  etc.  But  the  doctor  had 
seen  enough  of  these  wild  cats,  as  he  called  them,  and  would  not 
say  another  word.  He  mounted  his  mare  and  started  for  home,  a 
sadder  and  wiser  man  than  when  he  left  it. 

Just  after  he  was  fairly  under  way  a  large  man  on  horseback,  in 
the  uniform  of  a  colonel,  overtook  him  and  entered  into  conversa 
tion,  and  they  jogged  along  quite  pleasantly. 

Pretty  soon  there  was  a  clattering  of  horses'  hoofs  behind  them, 


A   RACE   THAT  DISTANCED  JOHN   GILPIN'S.  207 

and  they  beheld  the  blood-and-thunder  orator,  mounted  on  a  big 
roan  horse,  coming  at  a  dead  run  and  shouting  like  mad. 

Both  the  mare  and  the  colonel's  horse  pricked  up  their  ears  and 
became  so  restless  that  it  required  the  utmost  exertions  of  their 
riders  to  hold  them.  The  orator,  as  he  came  up,  gave  the  doctor's 
mare  a  sharp  cut  with  his  whip,  singing  out,  "  Come  on,  little  man, 
let's  see  if  you  can  ride  as  well  as  you  can  talk  ! " 

The  mare  started  as  if  shot  from  a  gun,  the  colonel's  horse  started 
after  the  mare,  and  all  three  dashed  off  at  a  rate  of  speed  that  would 
have  distanced  John  Gilpin. 

Crowds  of  people  were  met  along  the  road,  all  going  to  the 
Democratic  meeting,  and  all  drew  out  of  the  way  to  let  the  racers 
go  by. 

The  doctor's  trousers  had  worked  up  above  his  knees,  displaying 
his  red  flannel  drawers  in  all  their  beauty,  and  the  wayfarers  shouted 
lustily,  "Go  it,  little  red-legs!"  "Go  it,  Colonel!"  "Go  it, 
Bully  Bludger!" 

Suddenly  a  bridge  hove  in  sight  which  the  soldiers  were  repair 
ing.  They  had  removed  the  planks  from  one  side,  leaving  a  narrow 
passage  for  travelers.  The  mare  took  the  lead,  never  deviating  from 
a  straight  course,  and  with  a  flying  leap  cleared  the  opening ;  but, 
alas  !  for  the  little  doctor  ;  he  lost  his  seat  and  fell  plump  into  the 
swamp  !  The  other  riders,  more  fortunate  or  more  expert  in  the 
management  of  their  steeds,  kept  the  side  road  and  went  flying  on 
after  the  mare,  which,  relieved  of  the  weight  of  her  rider,  ran  faster 
than  ever,  and  reached  the  gangway  of  the  Black  Hawk  covered 
with  foam. 

The  doctor  had  eight  miles  to  walk,  his  uniform  was  covered  with 
mud,  and  altogether  he  was  so  battered  that  his  friends  would  hardly 
have  recognized  him. 

Next  day  I  sent  for  him  to  come  and  dine  with  me,  and  he  ap 
peared,  looking  as  neat  as  usual. 

In  the  course  of  conversation  I  remarked,  "  How  are  politics 
getting  along  nowadays  ? " 

The  doctor  looked  at  me  suspiciously.  "  Well,  sir,"  he  replied, 
"  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  politics  in  Egypt  are  a  farce  ; 
they  are  whisky  politics  altogether.  I  haven't  seen  a  man  in  this 
county  who  understands  Democratic  principles  as  laid  down  by  Jef 
ferson  ;  in  fact,  I  don't  think  they  are  understood  anywhere  outside 
of  Maryland  ;  but,  sir,  if  you'll  sell  me  that  mare  of  yours  I'll  prom 
ise  to  give  up  politics  altogether."  Then  the  doctor  told  me  the 


208   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

whole  story  of  his  escapade,  for  he  couldn't  keep  anything  from  me 
to  save  his  life. 

The  reader  may  wonder  what  I  was  doing  with  a  racing  mare. 
I  had  quite  a  stud  of  horses  on  board  the  flag-ship,  and  they  were 
almost  indispensable  at  times  for  sending  messages  to  army  head 
quarters,  etc. 

We  generally  tied  up  to  the  bank  instead  of  anchoring  in  the 
stream,  and  made  little  use  of  boats. 

The  fleet-surgeon  kept  to  his  resolution  and  attended  no  more 
political  meetings  while  in  the  West,  but  after  the  war,  when  he 
had  returned  to  Maryland,  he  became  again  an  ardent  politician, 
and  at  one  time  attempted  to  run  for  Congress,  which  he  insisted 
was  his  legitimate  sphere.  The  doctor  was  a  credit  to  his  corps, 
and  by  his  death  I  lost  an  inestimable  friend. 

There  are  other  amusing  incidents  in  the  doctor's  career  with 
which  he  was  wont  to  delight  his  friends,  for  no  one  told  a  story 
better  than  he  did,  but  my  limits  forbid  their  insertion  here. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

SHERMAN  STAETS  FROM  MEMPHIS  TO  GO  TO  CHATTANOOGA — FINDS 
A  THIRTY-POUND  SHOT  IN  HIS  STOMACH — THE  NAVY  RELIEVE 
HIM — BRIDGES  AND  FERRY-BOATS  IN  ABUNDANCE — REACHES 
CHATTANOOGA  IN  TIME. 

ABOUT  the  last  of  November,  1863,  I  was  standing  on  the  upper 
deck  of  the  Black  Hawk,  at  Mound  City,  when  I  saw  a  large  steamer 
coming  up  the  river.  She  stopped  abreast  of  the  flag-ship,  and  the 
captain  hailed  to  inquire  if  I  was  on  board. 

When  satisfied  on  that  point  the  captain  informed  me  that  he  was 
just  from  Memphis,  and  that  General  Sherman  had  left  there  to 
join  General  Grant  at  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  with  thirty-six  thousand 
men. 

I  was  surprised  at  this  intelligence,  as  I  had  not  heard  that  such 
a  move  was  contemplated,  as  Grant  and  Sherman  were  accustomed 
to  inform  me  of  any  movement  they  were  about  to  make  where 
the  services  of  the  navy  would  be  required,  and  in  this  case  the 
navy  might  be  of  great  use. 


SHERMAN   ON  THE  BANKS   OF   THE   TENNESSEE.     209 

I  questioned  the  captain  of  the  steamer  closely,  and  was  satisfied 
that  his  statement  was  correct.  I  immediately  issued  orders  for 
a  certain  number  of  vessels  to  be  ready  to  move  at  daylight  next 
morning ;  and  I  suggested  to  the  army  quartermaster  the  advisa 
bility  of  sending  some  transports  loaded  with  --stores  along  with  the 
gun-boats,  in  case -General  Sherman  should  require  them. 

Colonel  McAllister,  who  was  an  energetic  man,  went  immedi 
ately  to  work,  and  by  daylight  his  vessels  were  ready,  loaded  with 
everything  an  army  could  require. 

When  General  Fremont  commanded  in  the  "West  he  had  built 
a  number  of  flat-bottomed  barges  for  the  transportation  of  troops, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length  and  twenty-five  in  width.  The 
value  of  these  flat-boats  did  not  seem  to  be  appreciated,  and  they 
appear  to  have  been  little  used.  They  would  break  adrift  from  their 
fastenings  at  Louisville,  or  Cincinnati,  or  wherever  they  were  kept, 
and  come  floating  down  the  Ohio,  and,  as  I  had  tugs  patrolling  the 
river  night  and  day,  they  picked  up  this  flotsam  and  jetsam  and 
brought  it  into  port,  where  it  was  appropriated  to  naval  uses.  In 
this  way  we  acquired  six  or  eight  barges  admirably  suited  for  flying 
bridges,  by  which  an  army  could  cross  a  river,  and  three  or  four  of 
them  were  now  prepared  to  go  up  in  tow  of  the  gun-boats. 

I  also  sent  along  a  large  ferry-boat  that  we  happened  to  have  on 
hand,  and  omitted  nothing  that  I  thought  would  be  wanted  in  cross 
ing  an  army  over  a  river. 

The  whole  expedition  was  placed  under  command  of  Captain 
Phelps,  and  he  was  directed  to  lose  no  time  in  reaching  luka,  or 
"Muscle  Shoals/'  where  it  was  likely  Sherman  would  attempt  to 
cross  the  Tennessee  Kiver,  expecting  to  find  low  water  and  an  easy 
fording  place. 

I  selected  the  lightest-draught  gun-boats  I  had,  some  of  them  not 
drawing  over  twelve  inches  of  water — in  popular  language,  "  they 
could  run  on  a  heavy  dew." 

Captain  Phelps  worked  manfully  to  force  his  steamers  over  the 
numerous  shoals  he  encountered.  The  vessels  were  fitted  with  long 
spars  on  their  bows,  and  when  they  came  to  a  shoal  the  spars  would 
be  fixed  firmly  in  the  ground,  the  vessel  forced  ahead,  her  bow 
lifted,  and  she  would  spring  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  advance,  and  this 
manoeuvre  would  be  repeated  until  the  shoal  was  passed. 

On  the  third  day,  however,  there  was  no  further  necessity  for 
"jumping,"  for  the  water  begun  to  rise,  indicating  a  freshet  above. 

I  had  received  due  notice,  by  certain  signs,  that  the  river  was 
14 


210   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

rising,  and  I  felt  sure  that  Sherman  would  have  difficulty  in  getting 
his  army  across.  The  general  made  forced  marches,  but,  when  his 
advance  arrived  at  the  banks  of  the  Tennessee,  they  found  the  shoals 
covered  with  water  and  the  river  rising  rapidly. 

Sherman  made  several  attempts  to  cross  his  wagons,  but  the 
water  was  too  deep  and  the  current  too  strong.  Then  he  tried 
bridge-building,  but  without  success — the  river  was  now  "boom 
ing  "  and  rising  at  the  rate  of  twenty  inches  an  hour. 

General  Sherman's  experience  told  him  that  there  was  no  hope 
of  getting  across  that  river  for  many  days  to  come,  and  the  situa 
tion  was  getting  rather  embarrassing. 

He  had  started  under  the  impression  that  he  would  reach  the 
river  at  a  time  when  the  water  would  be  at  its  lowest  point,  and  he 
would  be  able  to  cross  it  dry-shod.  But  who  can  tell  the  vagaries 
of  the  Tennessee  and  Cumberland  Rivers  ?  They  may  be  dry  one 
day,  with  the  prospect  of  so  continuing  for  weeks,  and  in  two  hours 
the  water  may  be  carrying  everything  before  it. 

General  Sherman  thus  found  himself  checkmated.  To  use  his 
own  words,  he  was  very  much  disgusted  with  everything,  and,  as 
nothing  could  be  done,  he  rode  back  to  his  headquarters,  which 
had  been  established  two  or  three  miles  from  the  river,  threw  him 
self  upon  his  camp-cot,  and  "felt  as  if  he  had  a  thirty-two-pound 
shot  in  his  stomach." 

I  can  imagine  what  his  feelings  must  have  been  on  the  eve  of  a 
great  battle  where  his  presence  was  expected  and  he  unable  to  move. 
A  certain  combination  could  not  be  made,  owing  to  circumstances 
over  which  he  had  no  control,  and  yet  the  combination  might  have 
been  made  perfect  if  I  had  been  given  a  week's  notice  of  the  in 
tended  move  by  General  Grant. 

I  presume  that  Grant  thought  Sherman  would  notify  me,  but 
it  all  turned  out  right  in  the  end,  although  the  expedition  came 
near  ending  in  disappointment. 

As  Sherman  lay  on  his  camp-cot,  trying  to  digest  the  thirty-two- 
pound  shot  which  he  felt  in  the  pit  of  his  stomach,  he  heard  tho 
clatter  of  horses'  hoofs,  and,  looking  from  his  tent,  saw  half  a  dozen 
cavalrymen  coming  toward  him  at  full  speed  waving  their  caps. 

The  general  didn't  know  whether  the  river  had  suddenly  fallen 
or  whether  the  fairies  had  built  a  bridge  across  the  stream,  but  he 
felt  that  something  good  had  happened,  and  was  no  longer  troubled 
with  the  thirty-two-pound  shot  when  the  soldiers  informed  him  that 
the  admiral,  with  all  the  gun-boats,  was  coming  up  the  river. 


SHERMAN   AT   CHATTANOOGA.  211 

The  general  forthwith  mounted  his  horse,  and  arrived  at  the 
river-bank  in  time  to  see  Captain  Phelps's  squadron  of  fourteen  ves 
sels  coming  around  a  hend. 

The  soldiers  had  mistaken  Phelps's  divisional  commander's  flag 
for  that  of  the  admiral.  However,  it  made  no  difference,  for  I  was 
there  in  spirit,  and  no  douht  there  was  many  a  man  in  Sherman's 
camp  who  would  have  appreciated  the  sentiment  of  General  Oster- 
haus's  aide-de-camp — "Effery  soltier  ought  ter  garry  a  gun-poat 
mit  his  bocket ! " 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  Sherman's  army  at  the  arrival  of 
the  gun- boats,  the  ferry-boat,  and  the  barges,  and  Sherman  was  so 
glad  to  see  Phelps  that  he  almost  shook  his  arm  off.  No  time  waa 
lost  in  utilizing  the  material  sent  for  the  use  of  the  army,  and  a 
bridge  was  thrown  across  the  stream  which  defied  the  swift  current. 
The  ferry-boat  and  the  smaller  gun-boats  lent  their  aid  to  transport 
the  soldiers  across  the  river,  and  in  thirty-six  hours  Sherman  and 
his  men  were  on  the  other  side,  marching  to  join  Grant,  and  re 
joicing  that  there  were  such  things  as  gun  -  boats,  although  the 
army  did  once  have  to  march  after  them  in  the  Yazoo  country  to 
keep  the  rebels  from  filling  up  the  ditches  with  their  debris. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  army  and  the  navy  in  the  West  were  a 
compensation  to  each  other,  and  though  at  one  time  the  soldiers 
might  think  "Effery  soltier  ought  to  garry  a  gun-poat  mit  his 
bocket,"  at  another  the  sailors  would  have  an  opportunity  of  be 
lieving  that  every  gun-boat  should  carry  a  regiment  of  soldiers  in 
the  foretop.  In  fighting  on  inland  waters  each  was  a  necessity  to 
the  other. 

Sherman  reached  Chattanooga  in  time  to  take  a  prominent 
part  in  the  victory,  and,  when  it  is  recollected  how  desperately  the 
Confederates  contested  the  ground  on  that  day,  we  may  properly 
inquire,  What  would  have  been  the  result  if  Sherman's  splendid 
army  had  been  delayed  longer  in  crossing  that  river  ? 

"Old  Tecumseh"  did  not  mention  this  little  circumstance  in 
his  "  Memoirs,"  and  no  doubt  forgot  it  amid  the  multiplicity  of  events 
that  were  occurring,  for  there  was  no  one  who  more  thoroughly 
appreciated  the  alertness5 of  the  navy  in  giving  effective  assistance 
to  the  army  at  all  times,  or  who  was  more  prompt  to  give  it  credit 
for  its  services. 

Yet  it  was  too  much  the  custom  in  the  West  to  ignore  the  ser 
vices  of  the  gun-boats,  which,  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  had 
been  attached  to  the  army,  and  were  at  that  period  under  the  im- 


212    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

mediate  direction  of  the  commanding  general.  And  while  such  an 
arrangement  is  a  proper  one,  where,  under  the  circumstances,  the 
navy  must  be  an  adjunct  to  the  army,  yet  the  officers  and  men  of 
the  navy  should  always  have  full  credit  for  the  service  they  per 
form. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WHO  STAETED  THE  BED  RIVER  EXPEDITION  ? — JAPHET  IN  SEARCH 
OF  A  FATHER — GENERAL  A.  J.  SMITH  MAKES  A  FORCED  MARCH 
OF  THIRTY-TWO  MILES — CAPTURES  FORT  DE  RUSSY — SECOND 
CAPTURE  OF  ALEXANDRIA — GENERAL  BANKS  ARRIVES  IN  HIS 
HEADQUARTERS  BOAT,  BLACK  HAWK — CHAMPAGNE  AND  COT 
TON  BAGGING — A  DERELICT  HOSPITAL  STEWARD— A  REVIEW  OF 

"RAGGED    GUERRILLAS" — A.  J.  SMITH'S    SOLDIERS    CRITICISE 

BANKS'S  ARMY — TEARS  WON'T  MAKE  SOUP,  CHICKEN  WILL — 
I  HOPE  YOU  ENJOY  YOURSELF  ON  MY  HORSE — MRS.  HOLMES 
GIVES  THE  ADMIRAL  A  GOOD  CHARACTER — MRS.  HOLMES'S 
STORY  ABOUT  THE  COTTON  TRADE— THE  NAVY  BECOMES  DEMOR 
ALIZED — BLOCKED  OUT  AT  SHREVEPORT  RIVER — GUNBOATS 
TURN  BACK  IN  THEIR  TRACKS — BANKS  DEFEATED — THE  NAVY 
DEFEATS  GENERAL  GREEN'S  ARMY  —  THE  GENERAL'S  HEAD 
SHOT  OFF — A  HORSE  WITH  A  HEADLESS  RIDER — SAFE  ARRIVAL 
AT  GRAND  ECORE — BANKS  BORN  UNDER  A  LUCKY  STAR. 

No  one  ever  knew  who  started  the  expedition  generally  called 
the  Banks  Expedition  up  the  Red  River,  or  what  its  object  was. 
No  one  cared  to  father  it  after  it  was  over,  for  it  was  one  of  the 
most  disastrous  affairs  that  occurred  during  the  war. 

It  was  like  Japhet  in  search  of  a  father.  It  was  undertaken  at  a 
season  of  the  year  when  it  could  not  possibly  succeed  if  it  was  the 
intention  that  any  number  of  transports  should  accompany  it,  as 
well  as  gun-boats. 

Sherman  had  proposed  to  me  once  or  twice  an  excursion  into 
the  Red  River  country,  and  I  had  agreed  to  go  whenever  he  could 
get  ready ;  and  for  the  purpose  I  went  down  to  Natchez  to  meet 
him,  but  he  had  to  make  a  move  upon  Meridian,  and  that,  for  the 
moment,  put  a  stop  to  the  expedition. 

Sherman  was  well  posted  in  all  that  related  to  the  Red  River — 


THE   RED   RIVER   EXPEDITION.  213 

its  rises  and  falls,  and  the  season  of  the  year  when  it  would  be  best 
to  undertake  an  expedition  up  it.  He  had,  for  a  long  time  before 
the  war,  been  president  of  a  Southern  college  located  on  this  river 
right  opposite  to  Alexandria,  and,  having  the  faculty  of  observing 
everything  that  came  under  his  notice,  did  not  fail  to  make  him 
self  acquainted  with  all  the  vagaries  of  the  stream,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  uncertain  in  the  South — sometimes  most  turbulent,  and 
again  running  along  so  mildly  that  it  seemed  to  have  no  life  in  it 
at  all.  The  Red  River  is  the  most  treacherous  of  all  rivers  ;  there 
is  no  counting  upon  it,  according  to  the  rules  which  govern  other 
streams,  and  when  you  would  bet  your  all  that  there  would  be  a 
rise,  ten  to  one  the  water  would  be  lower  than  ever.  Therefore  it 
would  require  great  judgment  to  properly  enter  on  an  expedition 
in  that  quarter  if  vessels  of  any  size  were  to  accompany  it. 

When  I  met  Sherman  at  Natchez  he  said,  emphatically,  that  it 
would  be  useless  to  attempt  an  expedition  then  with  any  hopes  of 
success,  and  that  we  would  have  to  defer  it  until  late  in  the  season ; 
and,  as  I  had  the  most  implicit  confidence  in  his  judgment,  I  was 
satisfied  to  wait. 

We  did  not  propose  simply  an  expedition  to  Alexandria ;  that 
I  had  already  undertaken  by  myself,  and  had  found  no  difficulty 
in  capturing  the  place. 

Just  at  the  time  when  Sherman  had  given  up  the  idea  of  going 
on  an  expedition  to  Shreveport,  General  Banks  proposed  to  him 
and  to  me  that  we  should  join  him  in  an  expedition  into  the  Red 
River  country.  Sherman  went  down  the  river  to  communicate  with 
him  on  the  subject,  and  informed  him  that  he  could  not  go  him 
self,  but  would  lend  him  ten  thousand  men,  under  General  A.  J. 
Smith,  and  I  also  consented  to  accompany  the  expedition  with  a 
large  force  of  gun-boats.  I  objected  at  first  to  the  arrangement  on 
the  ground  that  there  was  no  chance  of  success,  owing  to  the  con 
dition  of  the  river,  but  Banks  urged  that  if  I  did  not  go,  and  there 
should  be  a  failure,  the  blame  would  be  mine  ;  so  I  reluctantly  ac 
companied  him. 

I  am  not  going  to  write  an  account  of  that  expedition  ;  a  full 
and  graphic  history  of  it  would  make  a  large  book  by  itself,  and  a 
very  interesting  one  at  that.  Perhaps  the  general  in  his  declining 
years  may  think  it  worth  his  while  to  use  the  talents  he  is  known 
to  possess  in  an  eminent  degree  to  write  a  history  of  that  cam 
paign.  He  has  never  yet  made  a  full  report  on  the  subject  to  the 
Government,  and  all  that  I  have  ever  seen  from  him  in  relation  to 


214:    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

the  matter  is  his  evidence  before  the  Congressional  Committee  on 
the  war,  which  was  not  characterized  by  that  fairness  to  the  navy 
which  should  belong  to  a  general  in  the  army. 

I  did  myself  spend  a  whole  winter  in  collecting  notes  of  infor 
mation  and  in  writing  a  strictly  true  and  complete  account  of  the 
Banks  campaign,  compiled  from  such  public  documents  as  I  could 
obtain,  from  letters  received  from  army  officers  connected  with  the 
expedition,  and  from  my  own  observations.  It  will  keep,  however, 
and  I  don't  propose  to  make  any  extracts  from  it  here.  I  may 
attempt  to  show  how  faithfully  the  navy  performed  its  part  of  the 
operations,  but  I  don't  know  that  I  shall  do  much  of  that  even. 
"  Good  wine  needs  no  bush "  is  an  old  and  good  saying,  and  I 
think  that  the  navy  had  very  little  cause  to  exculpate  itself  on  any 
occasion  when  it  co-operated  with  the  army,  and  never  entertained 
a  difference  of  opinion  when  it  came  in  contact  with  regular  offi 
cers. 

As  soon  as  General  A.  J.  Smith  was  ready  to  move,  we  started  off 
together  down  the  Mississippi  for  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River,  and 
ascended  that  stream  as  high  as  Bayou  Teche,  where  General  Smith 
landed  and  proposed  to  march  to  Fort  De  Russy,  now  rebuilding, 
while  the  gun-boats  were  to  proceed  up  the  river,  remove  the  ob 
structions,  and  attack  the  fort.  Since  I  was  there  last  the  Confed 
erates  had  repaired  the  works  and  had  made  considerable  additions 
to  them,  while  they  had  also  barricaded  the  river  at  the  forts  with 
a  heavy  timber-raft,  bolted  together  with  iron,  and  six  feet  in 
thickness.  It  was  a  formidable  obstruction,  and  report  said  it 
would  completely  bar  the  way. 

The  river  below  was  also  full  of  obstructions,  such  as  heavy 
piles  driven  down  into  the  bed  of  the  river.  These  latter  covered 
a  space  two  hundred  yards  in  length,  and  looked  as  if  calculated  to 
keep  out  any  number  of  vessels.  The  upper  part  of  the  piling  had 
caught  hundreds  of  logs  and  held  them,  and,  if  we  had  not  arrived 
when  we  did,  the  river  would  have  been  blocked  all  the  way  to 
Alexandria.  When  I  first  saw  these  lower  obstructions  I  began  to 
think  that  the  enemy  had  blocked  the  game  on  us,  and  how  aston 
ished  General  Smith  would  be  when  he  arrived  in  front  of  the  forts 
and  found  no  gun-boats  to  help  him  !  It  would  be  mortifying  to 
me,  and  might  be  disastrous  to  him  ;  but,  after  looking  at  the 
obstructions  carefully  for  a  few  minutes,  I  said,  "  Bosh  !  to  think 
of  these  fellows  trying  to  block  out  a  party  who  had  been  on  the 
Deer  Creek  expedition  in  the  Yazoo  country,  who  had  pulled  up 


GENERAL   A.  J.  SMITH'S  FORCED   MARCH.  215 

Titanic  trees  by  the  roots  and  removed  giant  oaks  from  their 
paths  when  cut  down  to  stop  their  progress  ;  who  forced  their  way 
up  through  seventy-five  miles  of  logs,  canebrakes,  and  small  wil 
lows  under  a  hot  fire  from  sharp-shooters  !  Why,  this  is  simply 
silly,  and  shows  how  these  Confederates  waste  their  time  to  no  pur 
pose.  What  indefatigable  energy  !  What  a  waste  of  money  and 
horse-power !  Blessed  is  the  power  of  steam,  by  which  we  can 
undo,  in  a  few  hours,  the  labor  of  years  ;  and  blessed  is  the  edict  of 
the  gods,  that  '  whom  they  wish  to  destroy  make  idiots  of  them 
selves/  or  words  to  that  effect !  " 

What  folly  for  any  one  to  attempt  to  keep  a  naval  force  out  of 
harbors  and  rivers  by  torpedoes  and  barricades  when  they  have  not 
heavy  forts  to  protect  the  obstructions,  or  a  superior  naval  force  ! 
You  might  as  well  try  to  obstruct  Niagara  Falls  with  tooth-picks 
or  quill  pop-guns. 

When  I  had  made  up  my  mind  about  these  obstructions  which 
looked  so  formidable,  I  simply  gave  the  order,  "  Clear  that 
away  ! " 

Who  that  has  not  been  to  sea  knows  the  devices  of  sailors  for 
removing  this  kind  of  stuff  ?  A  timber-hitch  with  a  hawser  around 
a  pile,  the  hawser  belayed  to  the  bitt-heads,  and  half  a  dozen  turns 
back  with  the  wheels,  or  screw,  and  the  whole  thing  is  done ;  and 
in  this  way  a  dozen  gun-boats  went  to  work,  and  in  two  hours 
undid  the  work  of  many  months. 

The  piles  were  pulled  out  of  the  mud  faster  than  dentists  pull 
teeth,  and  with  no  complaints  from  the  patient.  Then  came  the 
rush  of  the  floating  logs.  We  had  a  short  tussle  to  send  them  out 
into  the  middle  of  the  stream,  where  they  drifted  on  until  they 
were  emptied  into  the  Mississippi,  to  be  carried  by  that  stream 
down  to  New  Orleans,  where  they  would  furnish  fuel  enough  for 
the  poor  population  of  that  city  for  a  whole  winter. 

But  the  delay  of  that  work,  short  as  it  was,  proved  fatal  to  our 
hopes  and  expectations  of  being  the  captors  of  Fort  De  Russy. 

We  put  on  all  the  steam  we  could  carry,  but,  when  we  got  with 
in  two  miles  of  the  place,  we  heard  the  sound  of  heavy  musketry 
firing,  as  well  as  of  field-guns,  and  we  knew  that  General  Smith 
was  there  before  us. 

He  made  a  forced  march  of  thirty-two  miles — one  of  such 
marches  as  only  his  men  could  make — and,  when  we  turned  the 
point  with  the  gun-boats  a  mile  from  the  heavy  works,  General 
Smith's  men  were  hotly  engaged,  and  ten  thousand  of  the  best 


216    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

soldiers  I  ever  saw  were  pouring  in  a  deadly  fire  upon  three  thou 
sand  who  had  sought  the  shelter  of  the  earth-works. 

It  was  wonderful  to  see  how  our  men  would  advance  from  tree 
to  tree,  covering  themselves  as  they  went  along,  until  they  got 
within  fifty  yards  of  the  enemy's  works  and  almost  surrounded 
them.  This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  the  flag-ship  Benton 
poked  her  nose  around  the  point  and  opened  on  the  enemy  with 
her  famous  bow-battery.  They  waited  for  no  more,  but  retreated 
through  ways  known  to  themselves,  and  they  were  not  out  of  the 
works  before  Smith's  men,  headed  by  General  Mower,  were  inside 
and  had  taken  possession. 

The  victory,  of  course,  belonged  to  the  soldiers,  though,  no 
doubt,  the  sudden  appearance  of  the  gun-boats,  when  the  enemy 
thought  them  completely  barred  out,  accelerated  the  latter's  retreat. 

We  might  have  done  considerable  execution  among  their  ranks 
while  they  were  retreating,  but,  as  General  Smith's  troops  were 
pursuing  them  and  it  was  impossible  to  tell  which  from  which 
in  the  melee,  we  contented  ourselves  with  looking  on.  We  did 
hope  to  have  an  old-fashioned  gun-boat  and  fort  fight,  and  if  this 
place  had  been  fully  manned  it  would  have  been  "worthy  of  our 
guns." 

But  we  lost  no  time  in  regrets.  Now  came  the  question  as  to 
getting  rid  of  the  heavy  floating  structures  about  the  fort.  Here 
the  power  of  steam  was  triumphant  again  ;  three  or  four  gun-boats 
put  their  noses  against  one  end  of  it,  and,  opening  their  steam 
valves,  pushed  it  right  up  the  stream.  If  the  projectors  were  look 
ing  on  from  some  secret  hiding-place,  they  must  have  been  morti 
fied.  The  construction  of  this  peculiar  water-gate  cost  the  Con 
federates  seventy  thousand  dollars.  I  gave  ifc  to  the  poor  of  the 
neighborhood  for  fuel,  and  in  the  course  of  a  year  very  little  of  it 
was  left. 

Then  we  pushed  on  to  Alexandria,  General  Mower  accompany 
ing  us  in  transports  with  four  thousand  men,  while  General  Smith 
remained  behind  to  destroy  Fort  De  Russy.  He  said  he  was  deter 
mined  to  show  these  Confederates  that,  notwithstanding  their  in 
genuity  in  building  the  strongest  forts  in  the  world,  he  wouldn't 
leave  one  stone  on  another.  He  got  enough  of  it  in  three  days, 
and,  though  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  had  somewhat  changed  the 
aspect  of  the  works,  their  defensive  power  was  as  strong  as  ever ;  but, 
finding  that  white  soldiers  could  not  compete  with  the  negro  labor 
used  in  their  construction,  he  left  the  defaced  works  as  a  monument 


SECOND  CAPTURE   OF  ALEXANDRIA.  217 

of  the  industry  and  energy  of  the  Confederates,  who,  if  they  had 
only  applied  the  same  amount  of  labor  on  the  cotton-fields  as  they 
did  to  their  fortifications  and  obstructions,  would  have  been  the 
richest  people  in  the  world.  But  really,  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  herculean  labors  performed  by  the  Southern  people  to  maintain 
the  cause  which  they  considered  so  sacred,  we  can  not  withhold  our 
admiration  of  their  ability  as  soldiers. 

Without  doubt,  they  established  a  new  era  in  military  engineer 
ing  which  none  have  ever  excelled,  and  on  a  scale  only  equaled  by 
the  works  of  the  Titans  of  old.  I  am  myself  somewhat  inclined 
to  the  belief  that  they  secretly  imported  a  lot  of  those  traditional 
characters  to  assist  them  in  their  labors,  but  that  they  came  in  the 
guise  of  that  important  person  generally  known  as  the  contra 
band. 

We  took  quiet  possession  cf  Alexandria,  established  posts  in 
and  about  the  city,  and  settled  down  quietly  to  wait  for  General 
Banks  and  his  army.  The  latter  was  marching  up  by  way  of  the 
Opelousas  road  under  the  immediate  command  of  General  Franklin. 

Three  or  four  days  after  our  arrival,  General  Banks  came  up  in 
a  steamer  called  the  Black  Hawk,  which  he  used  as  headquarters. 
She  was  filled  up  pretty  much  with  cotton  bagging,  rope,  cham 
pagne  and  brandy,  and  cotton  speculators.  How  the  latter  got  on 
board  has  nothing  to  do  with  these  reminiscences,  and  I  don't  care 
to  surmise  ;  I  mention  it  merely  as  an  incident. 

General  Banks's  army  had  not  arrived,  and  General  Smith's 
troops  were  the  only  soldiers  to  be  seen  about  the  town. 

When  General  Smith  joined  me  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  with 
his  division  he  had,  I  believe,  just  come  off  a  long  march.  The 
clothes  of  his  men  were  worn  and  faded,  their  shoes  were  patched, 
they  had  no  tents  to  sleep  under,  though  they  may  have  had  blank 
ets.  Their  tents  were  on  the  transports,  and  the  general  forbade 
their  being  used  without  his  orders.  I  recollect  hearing  him  de 
nounce  some  officer  as  a  "  Miss  Nancy  kind  of  a  fellow  "  because 
he  slept  under  a  shelter-tent,  which  is  a  thin  piece  of  canvas  about 
the  size  of  a  bandana  handkerchief.  I  could  never  see  the  use  of 
one  myself  ;  it  is  like  a  turkey — too  much  for  one  and  not  enough 
for  two  ;  but  Smith  thought  it  a  luxury  that  no  one  under  his  com 
mand  should  indulge  in. 

General  Smith  had  only  two  wagons  for  his  whole  command. 
He  said  wagons  demoralized  an  army  more  than  tents  did,  and  if 
he  had  soldiers  that  couldn't  find  a  restaurant  in  the  Desert  of  Sa- 


218  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Lara,  and  a  comfortable  bed  in  the  swamps  of  Louisiana,  he  wanted 
to  swap  them  off  for  those  who  could. 

I  recollect  his  coming  on  board  my  vessel,  the  Cricket,  one 
morning  in  quite  a  state  of  excitement  for  him.  "Admiral,"  he 
said,  "  I  want  you  to  give  me  a  pair  of  leg-irons  ;  I  want  to  punish 
a  fellow  for  disobedience  of  orders." 

"Certainly,"  I  replied,  "but  why  don't  you  'buck'  him  if  he 
has  done  anything  very  bad  ?  " 

"Bucking  is  too  good  for  him,"  said  the  general.  "He's  dis 
graced  the  whole  command,  so  I  want  a  pair  of  irons  ;  he's  worse 
than  a  felon,  sir." 

"Why,  what  has  he  done?"  I  inquired;  "it  must  be  some 
thing  very  bad." 

"Bad,  sir,  did  you  say?  Well,  I  call  it  atrocious;  it's  my 
hospital  steward,  and  I  found  him  sleeping  out  here  under  a  tree 
on  a  camp-cot !  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  " 

I  laughed.  "Well,"  I  said,  "it  may  be  pretty  bad,  but  I 
scarcely  think  it  deserves  so  great  a  punishment  as  that ;  let  him 
go  this  time  with  a  warning." 

"With  a  proviso  that  I  shoot  him  the  next  time,"  he  added. 
"  But,  old  fellow,  my  conscience  would  feel  better  if  I  had  a  little 
of  your  hop-bitters,  alias  whisky  ;  that's  the  only  thing  that  can 
quiet  me  just  now,"  and  so  the  surgeon's  steward  got  off. 

On  the  day  after  Banks's  arrival  General  Smi  th  held  a  review  of 
his  troops  for  the  benefit  of  the  former.  Smith's  troops  were  not, 
as  a  rule,  dandies  ;  they  often  looked  very  shabby,  but  their  muskets 
were  ever  ready,  and  their  bearing  was  soldierly.  They  were  a 
splendid  set  of  men  ph3Tsically,  and  wouldn't  have  feared  old 
Clootie  himself  if  told  to  assault  his  breast -works  in  sheol. 
They  were  just  such  soldiers  as  the  French  had  in  Algiers — a  kind 
of  bashi-bazouk,  or  zouaves  (not  exactly  like  Billy  Wilson's 
"lambs") — and  Smith  wouldn't  have  them  other  than  they  were  ; 
he  taught  them  to  despise  danger  and  to  scorn  comfort,  and  did 
not  interfere  with  their  disposition  to  forage  on  occasion. 

These  were  some  of  the  boys  he  defended  at  Bruensburg  when 
he  said  they  would  not  leave  a  mule,  an  old  goose,  or  anything  else 
on  a  man's  place  if  they  once  got  on  it. 

The  review  came  off,  and  General  Banks  and  all  his  staff  were 
there  to  see  it. 

General  Banks  was  a  handsome,  soldierly-looking  man,  though 
rather  theatrical  in  his  style  of  dress,  which  might  be  accounted 


A.  J.  SMITH'S   RAGGED   GUERRILLAS.  219 

for  through  the  fact  that  he  had  at  one  time  been  on  the  stage — so 
I  have  been  told.  He  wore  yellow  gauntlets  high  up  on  his  wrists, 
looking  as  clean  as  if  they  had  just  come  from  the  glove-maker  ;  his 
hat  was  picturesque,  his  long  boots  and  spurs  were  faultless,  and 
his  air  was  that  of  one  used  to  command.  In  short,  I  never  saw  a 
more  faultless-looking  soldier.  His  staff  were  not  far  behind  him  in 
appearance  ;  they  had  spent  the  winter  in  the  gay  saloons  of  the  St. 
Charles,  and  may  have  lacked  a  little  the  rough-and-ready  look  of 
the  soldiers,  but  they  were  a  fine-looking  set  of  men,  and  exceed 
ingly  imposing  in  their  gay  uniforms. 

The  general  and  staff  were  all  mounted — and  well  mounted  at 
that — and  bore  themselves  bravely  on  horseback  as  they  rode  up 
and  down  the  lines,  witnessed  the  manoeuvres,  then  bowed  with 
military  grace  and  rode  off. 

"Those  are  ragged  guerrillas,"  said  Banks  ;  "  those  are  not  sol 
diers.  If  a  general  can't  dress  his  troops  better  than  that  he  should 
disband  them." 

"  Walls  have  ears,"  and  so  have  trees.  This  was  overheard,  or  re 
peated,  and  reached  General  Smith's  ears.  The  result  was  the 
growth  of  a  feud  which  lasted  through  the  campaign,  and  extended 
to  the  men  of  Smith's  corps,  who  held  Banks's  army  responsible  for 
that  remark. 

The  next  day  it  was  announced  that  Banks's  army  was  only 
twenty  miles  distant  and  would  make  a  forced  march  into  the 
town,  and  every  one  was  out  to  see  the  troops  enter. 

They  came  along  at  the  appointed  time,  not  with  the  long, 
swinging  stride  I  had  been  accustomed  to  in  Sherman's  men  or 
those  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  but  with  very  steady  step,  like 
veterans,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  arms  at  "  right  shoulder  shift,"  and 
keeping  time  with  martial  music.  Eeally  it  was  a  beautiful  sight, 
and  I  never  saw  a  finer-looking  set  of  troops  than  those.  If 
Banks  could  not  get  to  Shreveport  with  that  army,  I  thought,  he 
never  could  get  there  at  all.  There  were,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
thirty-two  thousand  of  them,  artillery  and  all,  and  they  were  fol 
lowed  by  two  hundred  wagons!  It  was  an  imposing  sight. 

Among  the  spectators  were  a  number  of  General  Smith's  men. 
They  did  not  appear  at  all  remarkable  for  their  neatness  alongside 
these  wonderfully  well-dressed  men,  who  looked  as  if  they  were 
simply  on  parade,  and  not  an  army  that  had  marched  twenty  miles 
since  breakfast. 

Some  of  Smith's  men  were  dressed  in  their  best ;  others  were  in 


220    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

their  shirt-sleeves,  having  stopped  whatever  work  they  were  engaged 
in  to  come  out  for  a  minute  and  look  at  the  "parade,"  as  they  called 
it.  They  were  rough,  brawny-looking  fellows,  dark  as  Indians  and 
as  hard  as  steel — such  men  as  Caesar  led  into  Germany  and  Gaul, 
and  with  which  he  conquered  the  world.  They  were  standing  in 
groups  or  in  lines,  with  their  bare,  sinewy  arms  across  their  breasts, 
watching  keenly  the  marching  of  Banks's  troops. 

"  Good  marching  that,"  said  one. 

"Yes,"  said  another,  "but  them  fellers  's  been  fed  QK  pate  de 
foie  gras,  and  there's  too  much  paper  shirt-collar  for  me." 

"Twenty-six  inches  to  the  step,"  said  another,  "seventy  steps 
to  the  minute  ;  we'd  beat  'em  twenty  steps  a  minute  in  a  march, 
which  would  be  more'n  half  a  mile  an  hour,  and  them  havin'  such 
good  shoes  on,  too.'7 

This  showed  the  animus  which  grew  out  of  a  simple  remark 
never  intended  to  be  repeated. 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  how  careful  commanding  officers 
ought  to  be  in  drawing  comparisons  between  different  corps,  for, 
though  but  temporarily  attached,  perhaps,  soldiers,  while  acting 
together,  belong  all  to  one  army,  and  if  some  of  them  are  not  quite 
so  well  clad  as  others,  they  should  be  given  an  opportunity  to  be 
come  equal  in  all  respects  to  their  comrades-in-arms  without  unfa 
vorable  comment.  Out  of  those  remarks  grew  a  hostility  that  came 
near  breeding  trouble.  These  soldiers  of  Smith's  were  some  of  the 
veterans  of  the  war  ;  they  had  been  through  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg,  and  at  Arkansas  Post,  where  I  had  met  them,  and  that  alone 
would  entitle  them  to  great  consideration.  They  couldn't  get  over 
being  called  "ragged  guerrillas." 

I  was  riding  out  a  few  days  after  the  arrival  of  Banks's  army, 
and  saw  a  woman  standing  on  a  house-porch  with  her  apron  to  her 
eyes  ;  she  was  crying,  and  talking  to  a  soldier  who  held  a  large  hen 
under  his  arm,  while  listening  to  her  very  patiently.  I  suspected 
there  was  some  wrongdoing  going  on,  and  rode  up  to  see  what  was 
the  matter.  I  didn't  want  to  be  considered  a  Don  Quixote,  but  I 
thought  it  only  right  that  I  should  protect  a  woman  against  ill- 
treatment.  As  I  advanced,  the  woman  took  her  apron  from  her 
eyes,  which  were  full  of  tears.  "  0  Mr.  Officer  ! "  she  said,  looking 
at  me  appealingly,  "  won't  you  speak  to  this  soldier  and  get  him  to 
give  up  my  hen  which  he  has  taken  ?  She  lays  an  egg  every  day,  and 
it  is  all  the  sustenance  my  old  mother — who  is  seventy  years  old — 
can  get  in  twenty-four  hours ;  it  is  all  she  can  eat.  Do  talk  to 


"TEARS  WON'T  MAKE   SOUP,   CHICKEN  WILL."       221 

him,"  she  continued,  "  and  save  our  hen,  and  I  will  pray  for  you 
as  long  as  I  live." 

"Well,"  I  said,  turning  to  the  man  and  addressing  him  sternly, 
"  you  call  yourself  a  soldier,  and  can  stand  there  unmoved  when  a 
woman  in  tears  is  appealing  to  you  about  a  hen  which  is  the  only 
means  of  subsistence  her  aged  mother  has  ;  you  ought  to  be 
ashamed  to  call  yourself  a  Union  soldier." 

The  man  looked  at  me  and  smiled  ;  he  had  evidently  been 
talked  to  before. 

"Do  you  hear  my  remark  to  you,  or  are  you  deaf  ?"  I  de 
manded. 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  answered,  "I  hearn  what  you  say,  an'  I'm  a 
thinkin'  on  it " — he  was  a  real  live  Yankee  if  ever  I  heard  one  talk — 
"  but,  Mr.  Admiral,  I  jist  want  to  put  the  case  to  you  in  a  practi 
cal  way  :  chickens  will  make  soup  and  tears  won't  !  Now,  that  ere 
woman's  tears  ain't  a  bit  of  use  to  me,  an'  this  ole  hen  is ;  it'll 
make  soup  for  our  whole  mess  ;  and  all  I've  got  to  say  is  this  :  If 
you  can  make  any  use  of  them  tears,  you  are  welcome  to  do  so. 
All  Ps  got  to  say  agin  is  this  :  If  you've  got  ary  a  dollar  about  you, 
an'  '11  give  it  to  me,  you  kin  have  this  ere  hen  an'  give  it  to  that 
ere  woman ;  and  she'd  better  keep  it  locked  up  in  her  trunk,  for 
there  ain't  many  fellers  in  this  army  as  conscientious  as  I  am." 

"  There's  your  dollar,"  I  said,  handing  him  one  ;  "  give  up  the 
fowl,  and  promise  me  not  to  come  here  again." 

"Well,  I'll  do  that,"  he  said,  giving  the  hen  back  to  the  fe 
male,  whose  tears  all  vanished  as  she  hugged  her  old  friend  to  her 
breast ;  "  but,  mam,  may  I  ask  the  loan  of  your  brush  to  get  these 
feathers  off  my  coat,  'cause  them  messmates  of  mine  are  rather 
partic'lar  about  business  matters,  an'  if  they  see  feathers  on  me 
they'd  suspect  chicken,  an'  I  don't  want  to  be  bucked." 

The  man  brushed  himself  carefully  and  walked  off.  I  knew  it 

was  not  any  one  belonging  to  the  13th ,  for  that  regiment 

had  certain  peculiarities  not  to  be  mistaken ;  and,  after  all,  I 
thought,  Banks's  men  are  as  fond  of  chicken  as  other  people  ;  that, 
I  think,  is  an  inherent  weakness  in  soldiers,  be  they  ragged  guer 
rillas  from  Iowa  or  propriety  men  from  Massachusetts,  and  who  is 
there  would  envy  them  so  small  a  luxury  ?  The  hardships  of  a 
soldier  are  many,  and  he  bears  them  with  a  manliness  that  can  not 
be  comprehended  by  those  who  stay  at  home  and  send  substitutes. 
I  am  quite  sure  that  if,  in  time  of  war,  I  had  a  substitute,  and  heard 
he  was  robbing  the  hen-roosts  and  cutting  the  throats  of  all  the 


222   INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

little  piggies  in  the  country,  I  would  smile  in  approval.  The  only 
thing  that  I  would  require  of  my  substitute  would  be  that  he 
should  not  trammel  the  movements  of  an  army  by  carrying  off 
large  pier-glasses  on  his  shoulders,  which  should  be  only  capable  of 
carrying  musket  and  knapsack.  There  are  worse  foragers  than 
soldiers — foragers  on  a  larger  scale,  and  these  are  frequently  officers 
in  command.  I  had  to  do  something  of  it  myself  while  in  Alex 
andria,  for  it  was  a  place  where  a  man  could  get  but  little  to  eat 
except  salt  and  canned  meats.  Even  dogs  sicken  and  die  on  that 
in  a  short  time. 

My  weakness  was  for  horses  ;  I  always  required  a  horse.  I  was 
in  the  saddle  all  the  spare  time  I  could  find  ;  I  did  a  good  deal  of 
business  in  the  saddle,  besides  keeping  myself  in  health.  When  I 
arrived  in  Alexandria  I  found  myself  without  a  horse. 

My  flag-ship  then  was  a  small  stern-wheel  boat  with  a  crew  of 
only  forty-eight  men  and  six  six-pounder  boat-guns.  I  had  room 
for  only  one  horse,  and  he  had  something  the  matter  with  him.  I 
must  have  another  horse,  and  so  I  told  Gorringe,  who  was  acting 
flag-captain  pro  tern.  In  less  than  three  hours  a  beautiful  black 
stallion  arrived,  and  in  the  evening  I  took  him  out  to  try  his 
mettle. 

While  riding  along  the  river-side  I  met  a  lady  on  horseback — 
a  good-natured,  buxom  woman  —  and  I  raised  my  cap  as  I  was 
about  to  pass  her,  but  she  put  herself  right  across  the  road  and  dis 
puted  my  way. 

"  I  hope  you  are  enjoying  yourself,  sir,  on  my  horse,"  she  said, 
' '  and  I  am  glad  I  have  met  the  gentleman  who  borrowed  him,  be 
cause  I  want  to  know  the  man  that  borrows  anything  from  me,  to 
be  certain  that  he  will  return  it.  You  aren't  what  they  call  a 
quartermaster,  are  you  ?  Because,  if  you  are,  I  want  to  get  my 
horse  back  again  at  once.  You're  not,  eh  ?  Well,  so  much  the  bet 
ter  ;  you  can  come  and  see  me.  My  name's  Mrs.  Holmes.  You'll 
find  my  house  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  road  down  river  ;  that 
horse  has  a  trick  of  shying ;  he'll  throw  you  off  if  you  let  him  ; 
my  house  is  a  plain  yellow  building  with  gable-ends — and  he's  a 
little  spavined,  but  nothing  to  hurt — and  there's  a  large  dog-house 
right  close  to  the  gate,  and  he  feeds  on  corn  (the  horse,  I  mean) ; 
and  there,  now,  I  haven't  time  to  listen  to  you  at  present,  but  hope 
you  will  enjoy  yourself  riding  my  horse ;  only  take  care  of  him, 
and  don't  forget  to  return  him  before  you  go  away.  Good-even 
ing,"  and  off  she  rode. 


MRS.   HOLMES'S   CHARACTER   OF  THE   ADMIRAL.     223 

The  next  morning  I  rode  down  the  way  indicated,  and  deter 
mined  to  call  on  the  lady  and  thank  her  for  the  loan  of  her  horse. 
I  knew  the  house  by  her  description  of  it.  She  was  on  the  porch 
as  I  rode  up,  and  came  out  to  meet  me. 

" I  am  so  glad  to  see  you,"  she  said  ;  "you  are  a  good  fellow  to 
keep  your  promise  and  come  to  see  me,  though  I  never  expected  to 
lay  eyes  on  you  again.  They  do  say  of  you  Yankees  that  you  can 
make  use  of  more  '  soft  sodder,'  and  make  more  promises  than  an 
Indian,  and  keep  none  of  them  ;  but  I  am  going  to  trust  you  if  I 
lose  by  it ;  but  I'm  that  mad  with  that  thieving  old  admiral  of 
yours  that  I  can't  hold  my  temper.  What  do  you  think  the  old 
reprobate  has  gone  and  done  ?  He  ought  to  be  hung  on  the  spot, 
and  if  Kirby  Smith  gets  hold  of  him  he  will  hang  him  to  the  first 
tree  he  comes  to.  Here  I  have  been  all  this  winter  curing  some 
hams,  and  last  year  growing  a  little  sugar-cane  to  make  enough 
sugar  for  the  family,  and  it's  all  gone ;  and  then  the  few  niggers 
I  had,  they  raised  me  twenty-two  bales  of  the  finest  cotton  you  ever 
saw,  and  Kirby  Smith  was  to  pay  me  ten  cents  a  pound  for  it,  and 
it  was  to  pass  through  the  Union  lines,  and  that  cotton  would  have 
netted  me  on  the  ground  thirteen  hundred  and  twenty  dollars, 
Union  money,  which  would  be  just  seventy-nine  thousand  two 
hundred  dollars,  Confederate  scrip — and  I  would .  have  stowed  it 
away,  and  at  the  end  of  the  war,  when  Confederate  money  was  at 
par,  I'd  a  pocketed  a  pot  of  money — when  just  as  I  was  fixing  it  all 
up  to  be  delivered' to  Kirby  Smith,  who  was  to  deliver  it  to  General 
Banks,  in  comes  that  old  skinflint  of  an  admiral,  and  he  seizes  all 
my  cotton  and  hams  and  sugar,  and  has  it  sent  on  board  his 
vessel. 

"  There,  now,  what  do  you  think  of  that  ?  and  that  horse  hasn't 
thrown  you  yet,  has  he  ?  And  he  is  the  worst  old  rascal  I  ever  heard 
of  in  all  my  born  days  (the  admiral,  I  mean),  and  if  you'll  just  rub 
his  legs,  from  the  knee  down,  every  morning,  with  British  oil,  be 
fore  you  use  him,  and  every  night  before  bedding  him  down  (the 
horse,  I  mean),  he  will  go  along  very  well  while  you  are  here, 
which  I  don't  think  will  be  long,  for  they  do  say  that  when  Kirby 
Smith  ships  all  the  cotton  on  the  transports  and  gets  an  order  for 
the  money  he'll  give  you  fellows  just  ten  days  to  get  out  of  the 
country,  and  will  capture  every  mother's  son  of  you ;  and  I  only 
hope  he  will  capture  that  old  admiral  of  yours,  and  I  want  to  be  at 
his  hanging,  and  I'm  not  the  only  one  by  a  long  shot.  And  if 
poor  dear  Holmes  was  alive  and  here  he'd  go  on  board  of  that  old 


224:  INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

rascal's  boat  and  just  cowhide  that  cotton  out  of  him ;  but  the 
poor,  blessed  creature,  when  he  heard  the  war  had  broke  out,  had 
some  business  in  Galveston,  and  I  haven't  heard  of  him  since,  and 
I  am  a  woman  and  can't  protect  myself,  and  have  to  submit  to  the 
stealing  of  that  old  scapegoat.  But  he's  got  no  conscience,  the 
old  sinner — or  I  might  say  skinner ',  for  both  names  suit  him." 

"But,  my  dear  madam,"  I  said,  taking  the  floor  from  her 
abruptly  and  not  at  all  surprised  that  Mr.  Holmes  had  permanently 
emigrated  to  Texas,  "I  am  surprised  that  you  have  come  to  such 
conclusions  without  being  better  posted.  The  very  day  we  arrived 
here  the  admiral  issued  a  positive  order  that  all  private  property 
should  be  respected,  and  if  you  have  lost  anything  it  will  be  restored 
to  you." 

"Bosh  !"  she  said ;  "and  you  are  fool  enough  to  believe  that 
kind  of  stuff  ?  If  he  issued  any  order,  it  was  that  he  might  do  all 
the  stealing  himself.  Don't  you  trust  him  ;  I  know  all  about  the 
old  villain.  Do  you  know  him  personally  ?  " 

"Yes,  madam,"  I  replied,  "I  am  very  intimate  with  him,  and 
shall  take  the  first  opportunity  to  let  him  know  of  this  outrage  and 
your  opinion  of  him,  and  you  will  see  how  quickly  he  will  remedy 
it.  Do  you  know  the  name  of  the  vessel  and  the  captain  who  took 
your  property  ?  " 

"Yes,  I  do,"  she  replied;  "don't  you  suppose  I  followed  my 
property  to  your  old  admiral's  stow-hole  ?  Didn't  I  ask  one  of  the 

sailors,  and  didn't  he  tell  me  the  vessel  was  the  ironclad , 

Captain  L.  ?  Yes,  he  did,  and  a  big  red-faced  man  he  is  (I  mean 
the  captain),  and  looks  like  a  man  who  would  not  mind  robbing  a 
hen-roost ;  I  suppose  he  goes  '  snaks '  with  that  cotton-stealer, 
the  admiral." 

"Well,  my  good  madam,"  I  said,  "I  will  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  the  admiral,  and  if  he  doesn't  right  matters  I  am  mis 
taken." 

"You  dear,  good  man,"  she  said,  "I  believe  you  will,  and  you 
can  keep  my  horse  as  long  as  you  like,  only  return  him  ;  and  now 
you  just  come  in  and  take  some  mince-pie  and  milk ;  I  made  it 
myself  (the  pie,  I  mean),  and  both  of  them  make  twenty  pounds 
of  butter  a  week  (my  two  cows,  I  mean),  and  they  are — " 

"  Yes,  madam,  I  will  step  in  and  enjoy  the  milk  and  mince- 
pie,"  and  I  walked  on  the  porch  and  regaled  myself  upon  what 
I  had  not  tasted  for  some  years. 

When  I  returned  to  the  vessel,  I  sent  at  once  for  the  captain 


VISIT   TO   MRS.    HOLMES.  225 

of  the ,  and  inquired  of  him  about  the  charge  made  against 

him  by  Mrs.  Holmes,  which  he  admitted,  his  excuse  being  that  he 
thought  it  public  property,  as  he  was  satisfied  that  it  belonged  to 
the  Confederate  Government,  though  it  was  not  marked  "C.  S. 
A.,"  the  brand  with  which  nearly  all  cotton  was  marked. 

I  told  him  to  return  all  the  cotton,  sugar,  and  hams  at  once, 
and  that  I  would  only  give  him  four  hours  to  do  it  in  ;  and,  if  he 
had  not  men  enough  to  handle  it,  to  borrow  from  some  other  ves 
sel  ;  that  I  didn't  know  whether  I  would  try  him  by  court-martial 
or  not,  and  that  I  would  censure  him  in  a  general  order,  which  I 
did  that  afternoon. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  goods  were  all  returned  to  Mrs.  Holmes 
intact,  and  in  the  time  I  specified. 

I  rode  down  to  Mrs.  Holmes's  next  day  to  see  if  the  order  had 
been  properly  executed. 

Mrs.  Holmes  saw  me  a  long  way  off  from  the  porch,  and  ran 
out  to  the  gate  to  meet  me. 

"  Oh,  you  dear,  good  man  ! "  she  exclaimed,  "  I  got  all  my  things 
back  ;  not  a  thing  lost,  thanks  to  you,  and  no  thanks  to  that  old 
cotton-stealer,  your  admiral ;  I  know  all  about  him,  and  they  say 
he  steals  cotton  by  the  thousand  bales  at  a  time.  I've  almost  a 
mind  to  give  you  that  horse  of  mine  ;  only  you've  been  too  good  a 
friend  to  me,  and  I  won't  deceive  you  ;  he's  spavined  in  both  legs, 
and,  if  you  were  to  ride  him  ten  miles  and  let  him  stand  half  an 
hour,  he  couldn't  move  an  inch.  I'll  do  better  than  that  by  you  ; 
I'll  give  you  a  horse  fit  to  carry  a  king." 

"  Sell  him  to  me,"  I  said  ;  "  I  don't  take  gifts." 

"I  can't  sell  him,"  said  Mrs.  Holmes  ;  "he  isn't  mine  to  sell ; 
he  belongs  to  a  Confederate  colonel  who  was  wounded  at  Fort  De 
Eussy.  The  colonel  is  up-stairs,  and  the  horse  is  in  my  stable  ;  you 
can  have  him." 

"Is  the  colonel  on  parole  ?"  I  asked. 

"No,"  she  replied,  "he  is  nearly  well  now,  and  is  going  down 
the  river  in  a  boat  to-night ;  he  can't  take  his  horse,  and  will  leave 
him  in  my  care,  so  you  can  have  him." 

"  Thank  you,  no,"  I  said,  "  I  can't  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
matter  ;  I  want  to  know  nothing  about  it.  It  is  not  my  place  to  go 
about  and  pick  up  wounded  men  who  are  on  a  sick-bed  and  make 
prisoners  of  them,  so  I  won't  betray  your  confidence  ;  yet  don't  tell 
me  any  more,  or  I  may  have  to  inform  on  you." 

"  You  dear,  good  man  ! "  said  Mrs.  Holmes,  again  returning  to 

15 


226    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

her  adjectives,  "  and  what  can  I  do  for  you  ?  Let  me  do  some 
kind  act  ?  " 

"  Only  lend  me  your  spavined  horse  until  I  leave  here,"  I  re 
plied,  "and  that  is  all  the  favor  I  ask." 

" There  is  one  thing  you  must  do,"  she  said,  "and  that  is,  give 
me  your  name  before  you  go." 

"  That  I  will  do  with  pleasure,  and,  if  you  will  give  me  pen, 
ink,  and  paper,  I  will  write  it  down  for  you." 

She  ran  off  for  the  articles,  and  soon  returned  with  them.  I 
wrote  my  name  in  full,  and  under  it  "The  great  old  robber  of  the 
widow  and  the  orphan." 

I  handed  it  to  her  and  she  read  it.  Her  face  turned  the  color 
of  a  peony. 

"  It  can't  be,"  she  said,  in  a  husky  voice.  "  Have  I  been  such  a 
fool  as  that  ?  Oh,  no,  you  are  fooling  me,  and  yet  I  might  have 
known  it  if  I  had  thought  a  minute,"  and  the  good  woman  sat 
down  and  did  what  all  women  do  under  difficulties — she  cried. 
Then  she  went  out  and  brought  me  in  a  glass  of  milk.  "  There," 
she  said,  "I  am  so  ashamed  of  myself  that  I  can't  talk." 

"  Well,  my  good  lady,  I  have  only  one  piece  of  advice  to  give 
you :  don't  believe  every  man  who  tells  you  that  a  Union  officer 
is  a  scoundrel  because  he  wishes  to  bring  you  people  back  into 
the  Union,  even  if  he  has  to  do  it  by  force.  Now  you  can  do 
me  one  favor,  and  it  will  cost  you  nothing.  You  said  it  was  well 
understood  that  General  Kirby  Smith  had  made  an  arrangement 
with  some  one  by  which  the  Union  army  was  to  march  into  this 
country  and  be  allowed  to  take  out  all  the  cotton  without  mo 
lestation,  that  this  cotton  was  to  be  transferred  to  New  Orleans  in 
our  Government  transports,  and  that  the  owners  of  the  cotton  are 
to  receive  ten  cents  a  pound  for  it  upon  its  arrival  at  New  Orleans. 
Is  that  so  ?  and,  if  so,  who  is  your  authority  for  the  statement  ?  " 

"  It  is  all  true,"  she  replied,  "  from  beginning  to  end,  and  this 
very  cotton  you  sent  back  to  me  is  sold  on  those  terms,"  and  she 
gave  good  reasons  for  believing  her  statement. 

Here  was  a  revelation  to  me.  A  large  number  of  transports  and 
private  steamers  were  daily  coming  into  Alexandria  from  New  Or 
leans,  Memphis,  Vicksburg,  Cincinnati,  and  elsewhere — all  pre 
pared  to  take  cargoes  of  cotton,  and  the  majority  of  them  carrying 
stores  of  all  kinds  to  trade  off  for  cotton.  Here  was  a  scheme  of 
corruption  and  fraud  gotten  up  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  get 
ting  cheap  cotton  to  keep  our  looms  employed,  but  in  reality  to 


STORY  ABOUT   THE   COTTON  TRADE.  227 

make  large  fortunes  for  the  most  unscrupulous  men  who  were  ever 
in  the  employ  of  the  Government.  The  whole  matter  was  finally 
brought  before  the  Investigating  Committee  on  the  War,  and  if 
that  committee  did  not  bring  to  light  the  outrageous  frauds  that 
were  perpetrated  on  that  occasion  it  was  because  when  they  dug 
down  their  spades  would  strike  some  skull  it  was  not  desirable  to 
disturb,  and  those  who  had  charge  of  the  investigations  got  over 
them  as  soon  as  possible.  An  effort  was  made  to  connect  the  navy's 
good  name  with  the  cotton  speculations  going  on,  but  it  failed  in 
toto. 

The  only  thing  the  navy  had  to  do  with  cotton  was  seizing  Con 
federate  cotton  marked  "C.  S.  A."  and  turning  it  over  to  the 
Treasury,  which  was  the  final  result,  for  all  the  cotton  seized  by 
naval  vessels  in  "Western  waters  was  sent  before  the  Court  of  Admi 
ralty  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  it  was  disposed  of  without  any 
regard  to  claims  the  navy  might  have  on  it. 

This  cotton  business,  as  practiced  in  Alexandria,  made  a  rather 
ugly  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  war.  It  was  not  an  army  and 
navy  entering  a  rebellious  State  to  put  down  insurrection  and  bring 
people  back  to  their  duty ;  it  was  an  army  of  cotton  speculators, 
commanded  by  General  Greed,  General  Avarice,  General  Specula 
tion,  and  General  Breach  of  Trust,  with  all  their  attendant  staff  of 
harpies,  who  were  using  the  army  and  navy  for  the  vilest  purposes 
— those  generals  who  hold  always  a  high  position  in  war,  and  fall 
in  after  an  army  to  gather  up  the  crumbs  which  it  leaves  behind  it. 

A  number  of  these  closed  up  the  ranks  of  Banks's  army  ;  they 
were  in  the  van  as  well,  and  on  the  wings  ;  they  were  like  the  crows 
of  Pensacola,  which  go  to  sea  for  a  living,  and  are  deterred  by  no 
weather. 

I  was  a  great  marplot  to  this  expedition  in  some  respects  ;  I  was 
not  let  into  the  secrets,  and  was  very  much  like  a  bull  in  a  china- 
shop — constantly  running  foul  of  some  piece  of  crockery  and 
smashing  it ;  I  was  so  stupid  that  I  could  not  be  made  to  under 
stand  how  an  army  could  enter  an  enemy's  country  and  make  terms 
with  him  to  purchase  all  the  cotton,  and  let  it  go  out  of  the  coun 
try  without  making  a  struggle  to  prevent  it. 

I  don't  know  how  it  was  that  I  was  kept  in  the  dark.  There 
were  lots  of  people  who  seemed  to  have  been  let  into  the  secret — 
fellows  who  came  all  the  way  from  Washington  with  permits  to 
"trade  within  the  enemy's  lines." 

They  would  bring  their  permits  to  me ;  I  would  examine  them, 


228   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

indorse  on  the  back  "  Not  approved,"  and  sign  my  name  to  it. 
They  would  then  tell  me  indignantly  that  they  had  a  steamer  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Red  River  full  of  merchantable  articles,  the  list 
of  which,  when  examined,  would  be  found  to  include  military  boots, 
slouch  hats,  gray  cloth,  quinine,  bowie-knives,  etc.  I  would  tell 
them  that  the  only  traders  we  allowed  were  fellows  with  muskets 
in  their  hands. 

One  fellow  sent  me  up  word  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  that 
"he  would  have  me  out  of  that  in  ten  days."  I  sent  a  vessel  in 
chase  of  him,  with  orders  to  capture  him  and  take  his  vessel  and 
cargo  before  the  Court  for  Confiscation ;  but  he  was  too  fast ;  he 
was  up  at  St.  Louis,  had  transferred  his  cargo,  and  was  hired  out 
to  the  Government  before  the  gun-boat  found  him. 

I  was  powerless  as  an  infant  to  prevent  supplies  from  reaching 
the  enemy. 

Steamers  would  come  up,  under  army  protection,  full  of  cotton 
speculators,  among  whom  were  included  ex-governors  of  States,  ex- 
senators,  relatives  of  people  in  Washington,  rich  merchants  from 
New  Orleans — "  their  name  was  legion" — and  they  stalked  openly 
about  Alexandria  with  "lean  and  hungry  look,"  like  so  many  hun 
gry  wolves  seeking  food  in  midwinter. 

I  wonder  if  Sherman  would  have  carried  on  war  in  that  way  ? 
I  would  bet  a  thousand  dollars  he  would  have  hung  some  of  those 
fellows. 

This  army  had  two  hundred  wagons.  Instead  of  marching  on 
to  Shreveport,  they  were  employed  in  Alexandria  hauling  cotton, 
which  was  shipped  in  steamers  and  sent  to  New  Orleans  ;  or  rather, 
I  should  say,  it  was  stored  ready  for  shipping. 

We  went  into  elections,  as  far  as  the  army  authority  would  reach, 
instead  of  marching  off,  while  General  A.  J.  Smith  and  General 
Mower  were  chafing  at  this  kind  of  war  and  volunteering  to  go  on 
ahead  and  capture  Shreveport  in  a  week. 

If  Sherman  had  been  there  we  would  not  have  stopped  in  Alex 
andria  a  day,  but  would  have  pushed  on  to  the  end,  unless  we  might 
have  stopped  a  short  time  to  hang  the  cotton  speculators  and  such 
like. 

Even  the  navy  became  demoralized.  We  had  regular  instructions 
to  seize  the  enemy's  cotton  wherever  we  could  find  it,  and  have  it 
condemned  before  the  Admiralty  Court — enemy's  cotton — includ 
ing  all  that  marked  "  C.  S.  A. "  An  immense  amount  of  cotton  had 
been  so  marked  by  the  Confederate  Government  before  the  capture 


THE   U.   S.   NAVAL   COTTON-STEALING  ASSOCIATION.  229 

of  New  Orleans,  with  the  expectation  of  shipping  some  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  abroad  for  the  cotton  looms  at  Manchester 
and  elsewhere,  but  that  little  game  was  spoiled  by  the  capture  of 
New  Orleans,  and  now  came  this  new  scheme  for  getting  all  the 
cotton  to  New  Orleans  for  transshipment  to  the  looms  of  the 
North. 

Naval  officers  complained  to  me  that  they  were  losing  a  chance 
of  making  prize-money,  and  they  thought  they  were  at  least  entitled 
to  the  cotton  along  the  banks  of  the  river.  I  unwisely  consented 
to  that,  and  the  very  next  day  I  saw  a  large  wagon  going  along  fol 
lowed  by  a  gang  of  sailors.  The  wagon  was  drawn  by  four  large 
mules,  having  painted  on  their  sides  in  large  red  letters  "U.  S.  N." 
The  cotton-bales  in  the  wagon  were  marked,  in  the  same  color, 
"0.  S.  A." 

Some  one  with  me  innocently  asked  me  what  those  letters  meant. 
"They  mean,"  I  replied,  "the  United  States  Naval  Cotton-Stealing 
Association.  I  don't  mind  taking  cotton  in  boats,  but  I  can't  stand 
the  mule  business,"  and  I  stopped  it  at  once.  It  had  been  going  on 
for  two  or  three  days,  but  amid  all  the  army  teams  I  had  not  noticed 
this  particular  one. 

Upon  inquiring  where  the  sailors  got  their  wagon,  I  was  informed 
that  "  they  had  borrowed  it  from  the  army  about  midnight,"  had 
painted  it  red  so  that  it  would  not  be  known,  and  had  borrowed  the 
mules  in  the  same  way ;  they  shaved  them  and  daubed  them  with 
paint,  so  that  their  mothers  wouldn't  have  known  them. 

Orders  were  then  given  that  no  cotton  should  be  touched  with 
out  an  order  from  me. 

Ah  !  no  man  can  imagine  what  a  fascination  there  was  in  a  bale 
of  cotton,  especially  at  a  time  when  each  was  worth  one  thousand 
dollars,  and,  if  it  could  be  condemned  by  an  Admiralty  Court,  would 
make  a  good  prize-fund. 

I  had  some  people  under  me  who  could  smell  a  bale  of  cotton 
a  mile  off. 

After  I  had  given  that  order,  one  of  the  gun-boats,  coming  up 
the  river,  espied  a  pile  of  cotton  consisting  of  thirty  bales  ;  the  cap 
tain  hauled  alongside  the  bank  and  took  it  on  board  and  brought 
it  up,  reporting  the  fact  to  me  upon  his  arrival. 

"Throw  it  overboard,"  I  said. 

The  captain  looked  at  me  with  a  heart-broken  expression,  but 
there  was  no  appeal.  He  obeyed  the  order  ;  the  cotton  floated  on 
down  the  river.  Another  gun-boat,  coming  up,  fell  in  with  it,  and 


230    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  captain,  with  joy  in  his  heart,  stopped  and  picked  it  up,  brought 
it  on,  and  reported  to  me. 

"  Throw  it  overboard  again,  and  read  the  last  order  about  cot 
ton,"  I  ordered. 

"But  this  was  in  the  water,  sir,"  he  explained. 

"Throw  it  overboard  at  once,"  I  repeated,  and  overboard  it 
went,  the  sad  eyes  of  the  sailors  following  it  regretfully  as  it  floated 
down  stream. 

Next  day  the  dispatch-boat  General  Lyon  arrived.  The  captain 
reported  to  me  that  he  had  picked  up  thirty  bales  of  cotton  floating 
down  the  river ;  it  was  the  same  that  had  been  picked  up  before. 
There  was  no  getting  rid  of  it.  I  let  it  remain  on  the  Lyon,  and 
it  went  to  Cairo,  before  the  Admiralty  Court  at  Springfield,  and 
was  condemned,  sold,  and  the  proceeds  put  into  the  Treasury,  being 
finally  paid  back  to  the  owner,  who  had  never  lost  sight  of  his  thirty 
bales  of  cotton  since  1863. 

He  recovered  his  money  in  1880,  seventeen  years  after  he  lost 
the  cotton. 

It  would  take  a  large  volume  to  tell  the  history  of  cotton  trans 
actions  at  Alexandria.  In  the  examination  before  the  committee 
on  the  war  there  was  a  very  considerable  amount  of  evidence  and 
eorne  "tall  lying."  I  never  knew  myself  until  I  read  that  evidence 
how  human  nature  was  given  to  castigating  his  Satanic  majesty 
around  the  lower  extremities  of  an  arborescent  vegetable,  but  I  am 
quite  satisfied  that  on  the  occasion  alluded  to  Congress  did  not  get 
at  the  truth,  nor  did  it  desire  to  do  so.  Wherever  it  stuck  down  a 
spade  it  struck  a  politician. 

Well,  it  has  all  passed  away,  as  have  many  of  the  actors  in  the 
scenes  at  Alexandria  and  thereabout,  but  I  do  pray  sincerely  that, 
if  we  ever  do  have  another  war,  it  won't  be  in  a  cotton  country, 
where  an  army  will  be  commanded  by  Generals  Greed,  Avarice,  and 
Corruption — three  commanders  under  whom,  if  a  victory  is  gained, 
the  benefits  thereof  will  accrue  only  to  themselves. 

We  must  move  on  ;  we  have  to  go  to  Shreveport.  We  started 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  that,  and  here  we  are  at  Alexandria  still 
— days  after  arriving  here,  and  with  nothing  to  detain  us. 

We  push  off  at  last  and  go  to  Grand  Ecore,  pitch  our  tents 
again,  and  look  as  if  we  were  going  to  take  root.  I  have  taken  up 
three  of  Fremont's  large  flat-boats  to  be  used  as  bridges  and  to  bring 
back  cotton  in.  There  is  no  use  blinking  at  the  cotton  question. 
Cotton  was  king  all  the  way  through  on  that  expedition. 


THE   REIGN  OF   KING  COTTON.  231 

At  Grand  Ecore  I  turned  the  barges,  or  flat-boats,  over  to  Gen 
eral  Banks  to  be  used  as  a  bridge  across  the  river  so  that  we  could 
communicate  on  both  sides.  The  bridge  was  thrown  over  in  two 
days.  Captain  Phelps  came  and  reported  to  me  that  Colonel  Clarke 
was  filling  them  up  with  cotton. 

"Let  him  do  it,"  I  said;  "we  will  capture  it  when  the  flat- 
boats  are  full,"  which  we  finally  did,  and  it  went  into  the  Treasury. 
Generals  Greed  and  Avarice  did  not  get  a  bale  of  it,  and  I  am  sure 
no  one  in  the  navy  did. 

At  Grand  Ecore  the  army  came  to  with  the  two  bowers  and  both 
sheet-anchors,  and  finally  got  out  anchors  astern,  and  there  it  lay — 
well,  just  ten  days  before  moving  on. 

All  this  time  those  army-wagons  did  nothing  but  haul  in  cotton. 
Cotton  was  king  here,  as  it  had  been  all  along  the  road  and  on  the 
river.  It  was  a  perfect  Juggernaut ;  it  crushed  everything  else ; 
transports  went  to  Alexandria  with  it,  and  stored  it  away  for  further 
transportation  ;  the  looms  of  Massachusetts  were  provided  for  for 
years  to  come,  and  the  sinews  of  war  in  the  South  would  be  much 
strengthened.  What  a  practical  way  to  carry  on  war,  and  how  the 
"  Neros  fiddled  while  Kome  was  burning  "  ! 

How  A.  J.  Smith,  Franklin,  Emory,  and  Mower  fretted  under 
it  all,  no  man  could  tell ;  but  it  was  a  reign  of  cotton  ;  they  could 
not  appeal.  They  were  led  to  believe  it  was  by  order  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  Who  knows  to  this  day  whether  it  was  or  not  ? 

It  was  certain  there  was  some  understanding  between  somebody 
and  General  Kirby  Smith.  The  latter  kindly  moved  back  as  we  ad 
vanced  and  left  the  cotton  to  go  to  New  Orleans,  and,  when  we  had 
emptied  the  country,  we  moved  on  as  the  hand-organ  man  and  the 
monkey  do  when  they  have  taken  all  the  sixpences. 

At  last  we  all  moved  on  from  Grand  Ecore  for  Shreveport. 
Every  one  smiled  pleasantly,  but  could  not  help  wondering  why  an 
army,  requiring  to  make  a  rapid  march,  should  encumber  itself  with 
two  hundred  wagons  when  there  were  twenty  transports  going  all 
the  way  by  water. 

But  let  us  skip  all  that.  It  is  a  page  in  our  history  that  may 
never  be  written.  The  expedition  was  a  series  of  mistakes  from  be 
ginning  to  end.  I  made  some  myself,  no  doubt,  but  the  greatest 
of  all  I  ever  made  was  in  permitting  myself  to  be  deluded  into  go 
ing  where  I  knew  there  would  be  a  failure  unless  a  more  propi 
tious  time  should  be  selected. 

Let  it  all  go  ;  there  is  no  more  room  for  it  here.    This  is  a  book 


232   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

of  anecdotes,  and  most  of  this  matter  is  too  serious  to  enter 
upon. 

On  the  way  up  to  Shreveport  I  had  two  thousand  five  hun 
dred  of  General  A.  J.  Smith's  men  with  me  under  command  of 
General  Kilby  Smith.  We  were  to  land  them  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Shreveport  River,  and  march  them  to  meet  Banks  when  he  should 
arrive. 

Oh,  the  snags  and  sand-bars  we  ran  upon  !  We  had  no  pilots  of 
any  account,  and  got  along  by  main  strength  and  nonsense.  If 
one  got  on  a  bank,  another  would  haul  him  off,  and  there  was  not 
a  vessel  there  that  did  not  haul  the  others  off  three  or  four  times  be 
fore  we  got  to  Loggy  Bayou — the  name  is  significant  enough  with 
out  saying  any  more  in  regard  to  it. 

The  people  all  along  were  kind  to  us  as  we  went  up,  and  gave  us  in 
formation  cheerfully  whenever  we  asked  it.  Only  it  was  curious 
that  their  information  led  us  into  all  kinds  of  difficulties.  Where 
they  told  us  the  deep  water  was,  we  found  shoals  and  snags,  and 
where  we  were  told  to  go  through  a  cut-off  we  found  it  a  blind. 
But  how  could  these  poor  people  know  ?  Likely  they  had  never 
been  on  a  steamboat  or  on  the  river  in  their  lives. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Shreveport  River  we 
found  ourselves  blocked  out.  A  very  large  steamer  was  laid  right 
across  the  channel,  with  her  bow  resting  on  one  bank  and  her 
stern  on  the  other.  Human  hands  could  not  move  her.  If  we 
burned  her  we  would  fill  up  the  shoal  spot  just  beneath  her  ;  there 
was  just  three  feet  of  water  between  her  keel  and  the  bottom.  Of 
course,  her  being  there  was  an  accident !  But  as  she  was  put  there 
at  high  water,  and  left  there,  it  looked  to  some  of  us  as  if  there 
was  purpose  in  it.  We  would  have  to  move  her  piecemeal,  and  it 
would  take  time.  I  proposed  to  General  Smith  to  land  his  artil 
lery,  and  that  he  and  myself  should  reconnoitre.  The  artillery  was 
landed,  and  we  rode  back  a  mile ;  everything  seemed  peaceful. 
"  What  nice  people  these  are  !"  I  said  to  General  Smith  as  we  rode 
along  ;  "  they  let  us  go  over  their  country  and  don't  fire  a  shot  at 
us  ;  but  at  the  same  time  let  us  keep  our  eyes  open. 

"  Halloo  !  what  is  that  I  see  running  along  there  in  the  high 
grass  ?  By  all  that's  holy,  those  are  scouts,  General  ! "  I  exclaimed, 
"  and  they  are  running  to  tell  of  our  coming.  But  they  are  not 
General  Banks's  scouts ;  they  come  under  the  head  of  the  genus 
guerrilla  ;  they  carry  muskets." 

"I  see,"  he  said. 


GENERAL  BANKS  "DEFEATED."  233 

"  Banks  has  had  a  battle  and  has  been  defeated,"  I  continued. 
"  We  are  running  into  a  trap  ;  we  must  turn  back,  and  get  down 
river  with  those  transports  when  it  is  dark,  or  we  will  be  cut  off. 
Embark  your  artillery  and  let  us  prepare  for  defense,  and  to  move 
at  six  o'clock.  We  will  have  a  victorious  army  on  us  by  eight 
o'clock  to-morrow  morning." 

The  embarkation  took  place,  and  we  moved  at  six  o'clock 
quietly,  and  with  little  steam,  placing  the  gun-boats  so  as  to  pro 
tect  the  transports.  I  found  that  five  or  six  large  transports,  which 
had  been  added  to  the  expedition,  were  continually  getting  aground 
on  account  of  their  heavy  draught  of  water,  but  I  stayed  behind  as 
whipper-in,  and  had  smaller  vessels  made  fast  to  them,  to  pull 
them  off  the  sand-banks  and  snags,  and  so  got  along  very  well. 

The  good  people  who  met  us  on  the  way  up,  at  the  different 
landings,  seemed  so  sorry  to  see  us  going  back  ;  they  got  their  guns 
out  and  saluted  us,  but,  unfortunately,  the  guns  were  shotted. 
They  killed  a  number  of  our  men,  and  they  kept  up  such  a  continu 
ous  salute  that  at  last  we  began  to  suspect  their  sincerity. 

At  first  the  balls  came  like  single  drops  of  rain,  then  more  of 
them,  then  they  came  in  showers,  and  we  were  absolutely  obliged 
to  land  and  take  on  cotton-bales  for  protection  to  the  soldiers  and 
other  persons  on  the  transports. 

Of  course  we  fired  back ;  but  what  harm  could  that  do  to  peo 
ple  who  were  in  deep  rifle-pits,  screened  by  trees  or  in  a  canebrake  ? 
The  affair  reminded  me  very  much  of  the  retreat  of  the  French 
from  Moscow,  only  this  wasn't  retreating  ;  we  were  getting  out  of 
the  enemy's  country  as  fast  as  we  could  ! 

The  people  were  now  no  longer  polite  to  us.  When  we  got 
down  about  sixty  miles  some  one  hailed  us  from  the  bank  and  said 
he  had  a  dispatch  for  us  ;  it  was  some  one  who  had  thought  of  us 
as  going  confidingly  on  to  meet  General  Banks  at  Loggy  Bayou. 

The  dispatch  read  :  "General  Banks  badly  defeated  ;  return." 
Here  was  a  dilemma  to  be  placed  in  :  a  victorious  army  between  us 
and  our  own  forces ;  a  long,  winding,  shallow  river  wherein  the 
vessels  were  continually  grounding ;  a  long  string  of  empty  trans 
ports,  with  many  doubtful  captains,  who  were  constantly  making 
excuses  to  lie  by  or  to  land — in  other  words,  who  were  trying  to 
put  their  vessels  into  the  power  of  the  Confederates — and  a  thou 
sand  points  on  the  river  where  we  could  be  attacked  with  great  ad 
vantage  by  the  enemy  ;  and  the  banks  lined  with  sharp-shooters, 
by  whom  every  incautious  soldier  who  showed  himself  was  shot. 


234  INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES  OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"We  could  not  use  our  artillery,  as  the  sound  would  betray  our 
position  to  the  more  distant  and  powerful  body  of  the  enemy's 
force. 

As  soon  as  I  read  the  dispatch  I  gave  the  order  "  Move  on," 
and  we  went  ahead  with  increased  speed  ;  but  about  one  o'clock  the 
next  day  we  were  brought  to  a  stand  by  batteries  erected  below  us. 
I  had  dropped  astern  to  whip  in  the  loiterers — a  troublesome  busi 
ness.  One  captain  got  ashore  and  deserted  his  vessel  with  the 
crew  in  the  boats.  I  hitched  on  to  the  steamer,  pulled  her  out  of 
the  mud,  and  towed  her  along.  She  had  a  number  of  horses  on 
board.  What  a  prize  she  would  have  been  to  the  enemy  ! 

Firing  commenced  ahead,  and  I  pushed  on  to  give  direc 
tions,  and,  as  I  turned  a  point,  an  attack  was  made  on  the  rear  by 
twenty-five  hundred  men  with  artillery,  under  General  Green,  a 
Texas  man.  It  took  me  but  twenty  minutes  to  arrange  about  the 
batteries  in  front,  and,  as  soon  as  I  heard  the  firing  in  the  rear,  I 
pushed  on  back  again  and  found  two  of  the  gun-boats,  Captains 
Bache  and  Selfridge,  and  the  transport  on  which  was  General  Kilby 
Smith,  engaged  with  this  force  under  General  Green,  while  a  larger 
body  of  troops  were  advancing  in  the  distance.  The  gun-boats 
made  terrible  slaughter  in  the  enemy's  ranks  with  their  heavy  guns, 
and  General  Smith,  having  mounted  his  field-pieces  on  the  upper 
deck  of  the  transport  behind  cotton-bales,  also  poured  in  a  heavy 
fire  from  artillery  as  well  as  muskets. 

"We  made  short  work  of  the  enemy,  though  they  fought  like 
devils,  and  fell  over  the  levee  into  the  water  when  wounded  or 
killed.  General  Green  had  his  head  blown  off,  and  his  horse  went 
galloping  over  the  field  with  a  headless  body  hanging  to  him ;  the 
ground  was  literally  covered  with  the  enemy's  killed  and  wounded, 
and  they  left  their  artillery  on  the  field.  I  had  no  time  to  look 
after  it ;  I  had  too  much  to  do  to  look  after  all  those  transports. 
I  got  them  all  by  the  batteries  before  sunset,  and  was  rid  of  the 
rebel  army  for  the  night. 

All  the  next  day  sharp-shooters  followed  us  along  the  banks 
and  picked  off  our  men  occasionally,  but  we  had  no  longer  any  rea 
son  for  not  firing  the  artillery,  and,  as  we  kept  that  going  during 
the  day,  we  had  the  advantage  of  them. 

We  arrived  at  a  point  four  miles  from  Grand  Ecore,  where  I 
supposed  the  army  was,  and,  as  I  came  up  with  the  vessels  ahead, 
I  found  every  one  of  them  stuck  fast  in  the  mud — all  in  a  bunch 
and  surrounded  by  sharp-shooters.  There  was  a  smart  fight  going 


SAFE  ARRIVAL  AT  GRAND  ECORE.  235 

on,  but  our  men  were  getting  to  be  adepts  at  this  kind  of  business, 
and  could  hold  their  own.  As  my  vessel  was  of  light  draught,  I 
passed  on  through  them,  telling  them  to  keep  up  their  fire,  and 
that  I  would  send  some  troops  up.  Ten  minutes  later  I  met  Gen 
eral  A.  .J.  Smith,  with  some  fifteen  cavalrymen,  riding  rapidly 
along  the  bank.  I  told  him  the  situation  of  affairs,  and  that  I 
would  send  up  more  troops,  which  I  did  ;  and  at  eight  o'clock  that 
evening  all  my  gun-boats  and  transports  anchored  safe  and  sound 
at  Grand  Ecore,  after  an  exciting  trip  as  we  could  desire — three 
hundred  miles  up  an  enemy's  river. 

As  soon  as  I  arrived  I  mounted  my  horse  and  rode  to  General 
Banks's  camp,  about  a  mile  from  the  town ;  it  was  dark  when  I 
arrived  there,  and  I  could  only  see  the  twinkle  of  the  lights  through 
the  canvas  tents. 

There  were  about  twenty  tents  pitched  about  the  general's 
headquarters — beautiful  white  tents  glimmering  in  the  early  dark 
ness,  and  they  were  surrounded  by  a  rope  rove  through  posts  four 
feet  high. 

A  sentry  and  a  sergeant  were  stationed  at  the  entrance,  and 
when  I  said  I  wanted  to  see  General  Banks  they  told  me  that  I 
could  not  pass  ;  that  the  general  would  not  be  disturbed. 

" But  I  must  see  him,"  I  said  ;  "my  business  is  imperative." 

" Can't  help  it,  sir,"  said  the  sergeant ;  "so  are  my  orders." 

"Well,  then,"  I  said,  "here  goes,"  and,  putting  spurs  to  my 
horse,  I  jumped  him  over  the  rope  and  rode  up  to  the  general's 
tent,  which  I  knew  by  its  greater  relative  size.  I  dismounted, 
made  my  horse  fast  to  a  post,  raised  the  general's  curtain,  and 
walked  in.  The  general  was  very  glad  to  see  me,  as  he  had  not 
heard  of  our  arrival  and  felt  uneasy  about  us. 

He  was  looking  as  placid  and  as  handsome  as  ever ;  he  wore  a 
handsome  dressing-gown,  a  velvet  cap  on  his  head,  and  comfortable 
slippers  on  his  feet.  His  tent  was  a  marvel  of  neatness  and  com 
fort,  and  everything  bespoke  the  soldier. 

"  Well,"  he  began,  "  how  did  you  get  back  here  ?  I  felt  uneasy 
about  you.  You  have  interrupted  me  in  the  most  pleasing  occu 
pation  of  my  life.  I  was  just  reading  Scott's  tactics,  which  I  do 
every  night  before  I  go  to  bed  ;  but  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you  back 
that  I  shall  lay  my  book  down  without  regret." 

"I  got  back,"  I  replied,  "by  main  strength  and  nonsense; 
more  by  good  luck  than  good  management ;  we  floundered  along 
night  and  day  with  only  a  few  good  pilots,  and  had  it  not  been  for 


236   INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

'a  good  little  angel  that  sits  up  aloft  and  looks  out  for  poor 
Jack '  I  should  have  been  nowhere ;  I  was  born  under  a  lucky 
star." 

"And  that  counts  in  a  man's  life,"  said  Banks;  "I  was  born 
under  a  lucky  star  also. " 

"  If  that  is  so,  how  is  it  that  the  rebels  defeated  you  so  at 
Mansfield  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"Defeated  me  ?"  repeated  the  general ;  "why,  sir,  I  defeated 
them  all  to  pieces,  though  I  had  to  retreat  for  the  want  of  water, 
and  I  had  to  come  back  here." 

"Why,"  I  said,  "  you  only  had  six  miles  to  march  to  touch  the 
Eed  Eiver,  that  would  have  supplied  you  with  water.  The  dis 
patch  some  one  sent  me  said  you  were  badly  beaten,  or  I  would  not 
have  returned  all  the  way.  I  certainly  expected  to  meet  some  one 
from  you  at  the  mouth  of  the  Shreveport  Kiver ;  that  ominous 
silence  showed  me  that  something  had  happened  to  you." 

" Nothing  has  happened  to  me,"  said  the  general,  "except  that 
I  have  fallen  back,"  and  I  left  him  under  the  delusion  that  he  had 
won  the  battle  of  Mansfield,  or  Sabine  Cross  Roads,  or  whatever 
name  that  unfortunate  affair  was  known  by. 

But  I  am  not  going  to  write  a  history  of  the  battle  of  Mansfield  ; 
that  will  keep.  I  must,  however,  mention  one  little  event  that  oc 
curred  there.  When  the  enemy  broke  through  our  first  lines  they 
came  in  contact  with  that  sturdy  old  soldier,  A.  J.  Smith,  with  his 
corps  of  eight  thousand  men.  I  had  twenty-five  hundred  of  them 
with  me  on  the  vessels.  The  Confederates  had  been  pretty  roughly 
handled  by  the  two  corps  they  first  fell  in  with,  and  no  doubt  lost 
many  men,  but  when  they  came  butt  up  against  a  solid  phalanx  of 
Spartans,  and  were  mown  down  by  the  hundreds,  they  turned  and 
fled,  Smith  steadily  pursuing  them,  causing  them  to  throw  away 
their  arms  and  knapsacks.  There  were  only  sixteen  thousand  of 
the  enemy  against  some  thirty  thousand  of  our  men,  and  these, 
when  they  had  first  broken  our  lines,  captured  all  Banks's  wagons 
and  a  large  portion  of  his  artillery.  All  this  General  A.  J.  Smith 
recovered,  and  remained  master  of  the  field,  while  Banks,  with  the 
main  army,  retreated  on  toward  Grand  Ecore. 

The  Confederates  had  been  broken  up  entirely,  their  arms  were 
scattered  all  along  the  road,  and  this  news  General  Smith  sent  by 
an  aid  to  General  Banks,  but  received  in  return  an  order  to  retreat. 
He  again  sent  word  to  General  Banks  that  he  was  not  only  in  pos 
session  of  the  field,  of  the  wagons,  and  artillery,  but  he  knew  that 


WE   COULD   HAVE   GONE   TO   SHREVEPORT.  237 

the  Confederate  army  was  broken  up,  and  the  road  was  open  to 
Shreveport. 

Another  order  came  to  "retreat  immediately,"  and  Smith  had 
to  obey,  leaving  the  wagons  and  guns  on  the  field  of  battle. 

When  the  enemy  sent  in  a  flag  of  truce  next  day  to  ask  permis 
sion  to  bury  their  dead,  they  found  no  one  on  the  battle-ground  but 
their  own  surgeons  attending  their  wounded,  and  our  guns  and 
wagons  looking  on  mournfully  at  the  melancholy  scene.  Of  course, 
the  Confederates  did  not  lose  much  time  in  gathering  them  all  in, 
and  good  use  they  made  of  them  before  they  got  through  with  our 
party. 

Next  day,  when  General  Smith  came  up  with  Banks,  he  called 
on  him  to  report,  when  General  Banks,  with  that  courtesy  which 
always  distinguished  him,  said,  "General  Smith,  allow  me  to  thank 
you  for  saving  my  army ;  but  for  you,  sir,  all  would  have  been 
lost." 

Smith  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  deliver  a  retort  for 
those  remarks  General  Banks  had  the  credit  of  making  about  the 
appearance  of  his  men.  "  Don't  thank  me,  sir,"  he  said  ;  "  it  wasn't 
I  who  did  it ;  it  was  those  d — d  ragged  guerrillas  of  mine,  and,  if  you 
will  let  us,  we  will  turn  around  now  and  march  into  Shreveport." 

It  was  a  heavy  hit  if  Banks  remembered  making  the  remark. 

No  one  could  ever  understand — and  never  will — how  it  was 
that,  after  the  Confederates  had  been  so  cut  up  and  completely  de 
feated  by  Smith's  corps,  our  army  never  turned  toward  Shreveport 
again.  My  own  opinion  is,  that  if  there  was  any  agreement  made 
with  Kirby  Smith  that  we  might  come  and  take  the  cotton  out,  it 
was  done  to  entrap  us,  and,  when  our  army  was  moving  along  in 
perfect  security  and  without  expectation  of  being  molested,  they 
were  attacked  at  a  point  very  favorable  for  the  enemy,  with  the 
fatal  result  mentioned,  though  this  takes  no  account  of  the  subse 
quent  inactivity. 

Some  good  historian  may  take  the  matter  up  one  of  these  days 
and  unravel  the  mystery.  Then  the  truth  may  come  out.  I  am 
certain  of  one  thing,  and  that  is,  if  General  A.  J.  Smith  and  myself 
had  been  there  alone  with  the  forces  we  had,  we  would  have  gone 
to  Shreveport  without  any  trouble. 

After  all,  nothing  was  gained  by  this  expedition,  for  the  moment 
our  army  retreated  the  Confederates  set  fire  to  their  cotton-bales, 
and,  instead  of  being  converted  into  greenbacks,  it  went  off  in 
smoke. 


238   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  ABMY  PROPOSE  TO  MOYE  AWAY  FROM  GRAND  ECORE— SINK 
ING  OF  THE  EASTPORT — PUMP  HER  UP — EASTPORT  BLOWN  UP 
— THE  CRICKET  COMES  TO  GRIEF — GUN-BOAT  FLEET  CAUGHT  IN 
A  DILEMMA — PROVIDENCE  SUPPLIES  THE  MAN  TO  RELIEVE 
THEM — A  ROW  WITH  A  MILITARY  GOVERNOR. 

ki  And  he  swelled  like  a  tadpole  on  a  rather  large  scale, 
With  a  very  large  stuffing-pin  stuck  through  his  tail." 

I  FOUND  the  river  at  Grand  Ecore  falling  fast,  and,  notwithstand 
ing  General  Banks  informed  me  he  was  going  to  Shreveport,  I 
worked  the  ironclads  through  the  mud  into  water  deep  enough  to 
float  them. 

I  ordered  the  Eastport,  the  heaviest  of  them  all,  down  to  Alex 
andria,  but  she  had  not  proceeded  more  than  two  miles  on  her  way 
to  that  place  when  she  encountered  a  sunken  torpedo  and  had  a 
large  hole  knocked  in  her  bottom. 

There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  The  Eastport  was  aground  with 
her  hold  full  of  water.  I  went  to  Alexandria,  where  I  had  left  two 
steamers  fitted  with  steam  pumps  to  fish  up  sunken  vessels.  In 
three  hours  after  I  returned  with  them  the  Eastport  was  afloat, 
the  two  steamers  towing  her  down  the  river  and  pumping  her  out 
at  the  same  time. 

The  Eastport  was  a  ram  which  had  been  brought  up  Eed  River 
especially  to  contest  the  point  of  strength  with  a  Confederate  ram 
at  Shreveport,  but  those  extravagant  people,  after  spending  many 
thousands  to  build  a  formidable  vessel,  blew  her  up  on  our  approach, 
and  left  themselves  only  the  formidable  ram  to  which  I  have  else 
where  alluded  as  having  knocked  the  bull's  tail  out  by  the  roots  ! 

"When  I  returned  from  Alexandria,  General  Franklin  came  on 
board  and  said  to  me  :  "Has  General  Banks  told  you  of  his  inten 
tion  to  fall  back  on  Alexandria  ?  Orders  have  been  quietly  issued 
for  the  army  to  move  this  afternoon." 

"  And  what  is  to  become  of  all  these  transports  ?  "  I  said  ;  "  they 
don't  belong  to  me.  I  have  already  escorted  them  six  hundred 
miles,  and  they  have  not  been  a  particle  of  use." 

'•I  don't  know,"  replied  Franklin;  "I  thought  I  would  tell 
you  what  was  on  foot,  so  that  you  wouldn't  be  taken  by  surprise." 


"SINKING   OF  THE   EASTPORT."  239 

I  weDt  straight  to  General  Banks,  and,  without  giving  my  au 
thority,  informed  him  of  what  I  had  heard,  but  the  general  told 
me  he  would  not  move  for  some  time  to  come.  Nevertheless,  I 
started  all  the  transports  for  Alexandria  under  convoy  of  the  fleet, 
keeping  four  small  vessels  with  me. 

That  night  the  army  moved  off,  and  at  daylight  not  a  tent  was 
to  be  seen. 

The  Confederates,  with  extraordinary  energy,  had  got  all  right 
again.  They  didn't  stay  defeated  long.  They  rigged  up  the  guns 
they  had  captured  from  us  with  horses  taken  from  our  wagons,  and, 
with  fresh  forces,  came  on  after  the  army  like  a  swarm  of  hornets 
whose  nest  has  been  disturbed. 

General  Banks's  army  had  not  proceeded  far  before  it  was  again 
attacked,  but  the  troops  were  now  under  charge  of  General  Franklin, 
and  the  enemy  got  the  worst  of  it  all  the  way  down. 

Banks,  with  an  escort,  preceded  the  army  to  Alexandria,  leaving 
Franklin  with  the  troops  to  follow  at  his  leisure. 

At  Cane  River  the  Confederates  made  a  sharp  attack,  but  Frank 
lin  gave  them  such  a  warm  reception  that  they  were  satisfied  to 
follow  at  a  respectful  distance  ;  but  they  did  follow  us  until  we  were 
out  of  the  country. 

I  remained  at  Grand  Ecore  until  I  had  gathered  up  some  pro 
visions  and  guns  which  the  army  had  left  behind,  and  then  started 
after  the  Eastport,  which  was  going  slowly  down  the  river  in  tow 
of  the  two  pump- boats. 

To  recount  the  trouble  we  had  with  this  vessel  would  be  too 
tedious.  She  would  sink,  and  we  would  pump  her  out  and  get  her 
afloat  again  ;  but  at  last  she  stuck  hard  and  fast  in  a  bed  of  logs, 
and,  as  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  done,  we  blew  her  up  with 
fifty  barrels  of  powder,  after  removing  from  her  everything  of 
value. 

So  careful  were  the  two  pyrotechnists  in  charge  of  the  explosion 
(Captain  Phelps  and  myself)  to  see  that  the  powder  all  exploded, 
that  we  came  very  near  going  up  with  the  vessel.  Phelps  was  in  a 
boat  near  the  bow,  and  I  was  in  a  boat  but  a  very  short  distance  off, 
and  great  pieces  of  the  hull  fell  all  around  us. 

The  Confederates,  who  had  been  constantly  watching  our  move 
ments  and  waiting  their  chance,  had  now  assembled  near  this  point 
some  twelve  hundred  men,  and  took  the  opportunity  to  pay  their 
compliments  to  us. 

The  other  small  gun-boats  were  lying  at  the  bank  near  by,  not 


24:0   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

suspecting  an  attack,  but  still  prepared  for  one,  as  was  always  the 
rule. 

The  Confederates  discharged  their  rifles  and  made  a  rush  to 
carry  the  vessels  by  boarding,  but  met  with  such  a  warm  reception 
that  they  were  glad  to  retreat.  The  sailors  followed  them  into  the 
woods  and  succeeded  in  capturing  a  non-commissioned  officer,  who 
gave  us  all  the  information  we  wanted  for  a  good  mess  of  pork  and 
beans. 

This  information  quickened  our  movements  down  the  river,  and 
we  lost  all  appreciation  of  the  scenery,  so  intent  were  we  upon  get 
ting  to  Alexandria. 

It  seems  that  the  Confederates,  having  failed  to  make  any  im 
pression  on  the  troops  under  Franklin,  had  determined  to  fall  back 
on  the  river  and,  if  possible,  capture  us  ;  and  that  a  force  of  three 
thousand  men  with  three  companies  of  artillery  was  already  posted 
at  a  point  on  the  river  below  us,  and,  as  our  prisoner  expressed  it, 
would  give  us  "  Glory,  Hallelujah  !  "  when  we  got  there. 

The  rebs  in  this  quarter  were  a  saucy  and  independent  set  of 
fellows,  and  the  prospect  of  punishment  didn't  seem  to  make  them 
a  bit  more  respectful.  I  rather  admired  them  for  their  independ 
ent  spirit ;  they  were  foemen  worthy  of  our  steel,  and  can  be  re 
lied  on  now  to  defend  our  country,  if  necessary,  against  the  world 
combined. 

Their  valor  was  equal  to  that  of  the  Northern  soldiers,  and  their 
endurance,  I  think,  greater.  Had  they  been  the  people  of  any  other 
nation,  our  troops  would  have  walked  over  them  without  much  dif 
ficulty. 

"When  we  left  Grand  Ecore,  about  five  hundred  negroes  of  both 
sexes  and  all  ages  took  passage  with  us,  anxious  to  reach  "the  land 
of  freedom."  When  the  Eastport  was  blown  up  I  put  them  on 
board  the  two  pump-boats,  thinking  that  would  be  the  safest  place 
for  them  in  case  we  were  attacked,  for  I  presumed  the  Confederate 
gunners  would  devote  themselves  to  sinking  the  "tinclads,"  for  so 
our  light-draught  gun-boats  were  called,  having  but  one  eighth  of  an 
inch  of  iron  over  their  thin  wooden  sides.  I  never  supposed  the 
Confederates  would  fire  at  these  helpless  negroes ;  but  one  never 
knows. 

I  got  the  two  pump-boats  right  astern  of  my  vessel,  with  an 
other  "tinclad  "  astern  of  the  pump-boats,  and  the  other  two  ves 
sels  bringing  up  the  rear.  My  little  flag-ship,  the  Cricket,  had  six 
twelve-pound  boat-howitzers  (smooth  bores),  and  carried  forty-eight 


THE   CRICKET   COMES  TO  GRIEF. 

officers  and  men.     The  other  "  tinclads  "  had  each  about  the  same 
number,  except  the  Juliet,  which  carried  the  Eastport's  crew. 

One  of  the  Cricket's  guns  was  mounted  on  the  upper  deck  for 
ward  to  command  the  banks,  and  a  crew  of  six  men  were  kept 
stationed  at  it,  ready  to  fire  at  anything  hostile. 

We  went  along  at  a  moderate  pace  to  keep  within  supporting 
distance  of  each  other.  I  was  sitting  on  the  upper  deck  reading, 
with  one  eye  on  the  book  and  the  other  on  the  bushes,  when  I  saw 
men's  heads  and  sang  out  to  the  commanding  officer,  Gorringe, 
"  Give  those  fellows  in  the  bushes  a  two-second  shell  !  "  A  mo 
ment  after  the  shell  burst  in  the  midst  of  the  people  on  the 
bank. 

"  Give  them  another  dose,"  I  said,  when,  to  my  astonishment, 
there  came  on  board  a  shower  of  projectiles  that  fairly  made  the  lit 
tle  Cricket  stagger.  Nineteen  shells  burst  on  board  our  vessel  at 
the  first  volley.  It  was  the  gun  battery  of  which  our  prisoner 
had  told  us.  "We  were  going  along  at  this  time  about  six  knots 
an  hour,  and  before  we  could  fire  another  gun  we  were  right  under 
the  battery  and  turning  the  point,  presenting  the  Cricket's  stern  to 
the  enemy.  They  gave  us  nine  shells  when  we  were  not  more 
than  twenty  yards  distant  from  the  bank,  all  of  which  burst  inside 
of  us,  and  as  the  vessel's  stern  was  presented  they  poured  in  ten 
more  shots,  which  raked  us  fore  and  aft. 

Then  came  the  roar  of  three  thousand  muskets,  which  seemed  to 
strike  every  spot  in  the  vessel.  Fortunately,  her  sides  were  musket- 
proof. 

The  Cricket  stopped.  I  had  been  expecting  it.  How,  thought 
I,  could  all  these  shells  go  through  a  vessel  without  disabling  the 
machinery  ?  The  rebels  gave  three  cheers  and  let  us  drift  on  ;  they 
were  determined  to  have  the  whole  of  us.  They  opened  their  guns 
on  the  two  pump-boats  and  sunk  them  at  the  first  discharge.  The 
poor  negroes  that  could  swim  tried  to  reach  the  shore,  but  the 
musketeers  picked  off  those  that  were  in  the  water  or  clinging  to 
the  wrecks.  It  was  a  dreadful  spectacle  to  witness,  with  no  power 
to  prevent  it ;  but  it  turned  out  to  be  the  salvation  of  the  Cricket. 
All  this  took  place  in  less  than  five  minutes. 

The  moment  the  Cricket  received  the  first  discharge  of  artillery  I 
went  on  deck  to  the  pilot-house,  saluted  by  a  volley  of  musketry  as 
I  passed  along,  and  as  I  opened  the  pilot-house  door  I  saw  that  the- 
pilot,  Mr.  Drening,  had  his  head  cut  open  by  a  piece  of  a  shell, 
and  the  blood  was  streaming  down  his  cheeks.  He  still  held  on  to 

16 


242   INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  wheel.  "I  am  all  right,  sir,"  he  said.  "I  won't  give  up  the 
wheel." 

Gorringe  was  perfectly  cool,  and  was  ringing  the  engine-room 
bell  to  go  ahead.  In  front  of  the  wheel-house  the  bodies  of  the 
men  who  manned  the  howitzer  were  piled  up.  A  shell  had  struck 
the  gun  and,  exploding,  had  killed  all  the  crew — a  glorious  death 
for  them. 

"  What  are  you  trying  to  do,  Gorringe  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"Trying  to  get  her  broadside  round  to  open  on  the  enemy." 

"  Leave  that  for  some  other  occasion,"  I  said.  "  I  doubt  if  there's 
anybody  left  to  fire  a  gun.  There  are  times  to  fight  and  times  to 
get  out  of  range.  This  is  one  of  the  latter.  We  are  helpless.  Let 
her  drift,  and  I  will  go  down  and  see  what  is  the  matter  with  the 
engine." 

As  I  left  the  pilot-house  and  walked  to  the  stern  to  go  below, 
the  enemy  again  opened  with  their  musketry  ;  but  we  had  by  this 
time  drifted  some  two  hundred  yards  away,  and  the  fire  did  us  no 
damage. 

One  soldier  ran  along  the  bank  and  fired  twice  at  me,  or  at  those 
on  deck  behind  the  cotton-bales.  I  seized  a  musket,  with  the  in 
tention  of  shooting  the  fellow,  but  suddenly  bethought  me  that  it 
was  not  my  business  to  shoot  people,  but  only  to  direct  others  to 
do  it ;  so  I  handed  the  musket  back  to  the  owner  and  said,  "  Shoot 
that  fellow." 

The  sailor  fired,  and  the  soldier  fell  dead,  being,  so  far  as  I 
know,  the  only  man  we  killed  of  the  enemy  during  the  engage 
ment. 

When  I  got  below  on  what  we  called  the  fighting  deck  a  shock 
ing  scene  was  presented.  Twenty-four  persons,  half  of  the  crew, 
lay  on  the  deck  killed  or  wounded,  among  the  dead  a  poor  woman 
(wife  of  the  captain's  steward),  who  had  her  right  arm  and  shoulder 
shot  away.  The  guns  were  nearly  all  rendered  useless  by  the  ene 
my's  shell,  the  side  of  the  vessel  and  her  stern  were  riddled,  and 
everything  seemed  torn  to  pieces. 

**  Fire  the  guns  off,"  I  ordered,  "  even  if  you  can't  hit  anything. 
Don't  let  them  think  we  are  hurt."  Three  contrabands  loaded  and 
fired  one  of  the  guns,  the  only  one  fired  after  the  first ;  there  was 
no  one  to  fire  them. 

In  the  engine-room  I  found  the  engineer  dead,  with  his  hand 
on  the  throttle-valve.  He  was  standing  ready  to  obey  orders  from 
the  deck  when  killed  by  a  shell.  In  his  convulsions  he  turned  off 


THAT   POOR   LITTLE   SQUADRON  OF   "  TINCLADS."    243 

the  steam,  which  caused  the  vessel  to  stop.  His  two  assistants  were 
wounded. 

I  opened  the  throttle  and  the  engine  moved,  for  it  had  not  been 
injured.  We  proceeded  slowly  down  the  river,  and  in  three  minutes 
were  around  a  point. 

The  Confederates  soon  finished  all  the  contrabands  that  were 
swimming  in  the  river  or  clinging  to  the  wreck.  Some  of  them 
may  have  got  ashore,  but  we  never  saw  any  of  them  again. 

As  soon  as  the  pump-boats  were  sunk  the  battery  opened  on 
the  little  "tinclad"  Juliet,  following  astern  of  them,  and  raked  her 
fore  and  aft,  killing  and  wounding  many  of  her  crew  and  cutting 
her  steam -pipe  in  two,  enveloping  the  vessel  in  a  cloud  of  vapor. 

The  rebels  troubled  themselves  no  more  about  the  Juliet,  and 
she  drifted  under  the  bluff  where  the  battery  was  placed.  The  bluff 
was  sixty  feet  high,  and  the  Confederates  could  not  reach  the  vessel 
with  their  guns  or  musketry.  The  people  on  board  took  advantage 
of  the  circumstance,  quickly  repaired  the  steam-pipe,  and  during 
a  lull  in  the  enemy's  firing,  owing  to  the  vessels  above  having 
opened  with  some  heavy  guns,  slipped  away  and  joined  her  consorts 
up  stream. 

I  wondered  why  the  vessels  above  did  not  follow  me.  They 
waited  till  night,  and  then  ran  the  batteries,  and  were  pretty  well 
cut  up  in  doing  so. 

Our  fight  was  short  and  one-sided,  for  the  Confederates  had  it 
all  their  own  way,  and  there  was  no  help  for  it. 

The  rebel  army  which  Franklin  had  kept  at  bay  turned  round 
on  that  poor  little  squadron  of  "  tinclads."  They  had  not  forgotten 
how  badly  we  had  defeated  General  Green's  division,  covering  the 
ground  with  killed  and  wounded,  and  determined  to  get  even  with 
us  ;  but  they  had  not  the  satisfaction  of  stopping  a  single  gun-boat, 
or  even  one  of  the  transports  which  were  so  unwisely  tacked  on  to 
the  squadron. 

The  Cricket  had  thirty-eight  shells  explode  on  her  decks  in  less 
than  four  minutes  ;  the  Juliet  almost  as  many.  The  other  two 
"  tinclads  "  did  not  fare  so  badly. 

Most  of  the  white  men  on  board  the  pump-boats  escaped. 

I  had  a  relative  on  board  the  Cricket  who  had  gone  on  the  ex 
pedition  "to  see  sheoL"  He  was  satisfied  that  what  he  had  seen 
was  next  door  to  it,  and  he  was  willing  to  return  to  his  post. 

As  I  came  out  of  the  engine-room  I  saw  a  contraband  holding 
on  to  Mrs.  Holmes's  horse.  "Why,  Bob,"  I  said,  "you  are  a  bigger 


2M  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

coward  than  that  horse  ;  you  are  frightened  to  death,  and  ought  to 
be  ashamed  of  yourself. " 

"No,  Massa,"  answered  Bob,  "I  ain't  no  coward.  Dis  nigger 
stan's  by  his  colors  to  de  las'.  If  you  was  half  as  frightened  as  dis 
chile  you'd  swim  f o'  de  sho'.  I've  got  what  you  call  de  moral  cour 
age,  sar." 

And  so  he  had,  and  that  sort  of  courage  is  better  than  physical 
bravery.  I  took  Bob  home  with  me  after  the  war  and  made  him 
my  coachman. 

In  August,  1884,  I  received  a  letter  from  Pilot  Drening,  whose 
cool  bravery  on  this  occasion  deserves  remembrance,  yet  a  grateful 
country  has  so  far  withheld  a  pension  to  which  he  is  clearly  entitled. 
He  must  be  upward  of  eighty  years  of  age. 

GALENA,  ILLINOIS,  August  #7,  1884. 

ADMIRAL  PORTER,  Washington,  D.  C. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  very  kind  letter  is  received,  and  with  many 
thanks  I  wish  you  long  life  and  happiness.  Twenty  years  have 
passed  since  the  battle,  yet  I  remember  each  name  of  the  killed, 
wounded,  and  living,  and  how  by  a  miracle  we  were  saved  from 
such  terrible  firing  to  see  the  greatness  of  the  country  that  our  com 
rades  died  to  save.  Yours  respectfully, 

T.  G.  DRENING. 

As  soon  as  possible  I  proceeded  down  the  river  to  Alexandria  to 
bury  the  dead  and  have  the  wounded  properly  cared  for.  I  could 
do  no  good  to  those  above  ;  they  had  to  run  the  batteries  as  we  did. 
Four  miles  below  I  fell  in  with  Captain  Selfridge  in  the  light  iron 
clad  Neosho.  Had  I  had  a  single  ironclad  we  could  have  driven 
off  our  assailants,  but  "tinclads"  don't  amount  to  much  in  a  fight 
against  artillery.  I  sent  Selfridge  up  to  attack  the  batteries. 
Pretty  soon  afterward  I  fell  in  with  Lieutenant  Bache  in  the  Lex 
ington,  who  had  been  engaged  all  the  afternoon  with  flying  Whit- 
worth  batteries.  The  Lexington  was  a  good  deal  cut  up,  but 
Bache's  eight-inch-shell  guns  were  too  much  for  the  enemy,  so 
that  we  had  at  least  one  success  that  day. 

I  do  not  mention  our  little  incident  as  a  battle,  but  simply  to 
show  the  kind  of  experience  to  which  the  navy  in  the  West  was 
subjected,  and  the  courage  which  the  officers  and  men  exhibited. 
It  is  one  thing  to  be  on  the  open  ocean,  able  to  see  your  enemy  and 
know  that  you  can  give  gun  for  gun  in  manly  fashion,  instead  of 
being  shot  at  from  behind  bushes  and  banks.  Think  of  being  pur- 


GUN-BOAT  FLEET   IN   A   DILEMMA.  245 

sued  day  after  day  by  a  party  of  bushwhackers  watching  from  be 
hind  trees  a  chance  to  pick  you  off ! 

One  can  hardly  realize  the  danger  to  which  the  pilots  and  engi 
neers  of  the  squadron  were  exposed.  I  have  seen  a  pilot  receive  a 
ball  in  his  brain  just  as  his  hand  touched  the  wheel.  The  pilots 
were  targets  for  the  enemy  to  shoot  at,  and  he  who  could  boast 
that  he  had  killed  one  was  a  popular  man. 

The  pilots  were  mostly  Western  men  by  birth,  but  passing  their 
lives  on  the  Mississippi  brought  them  into  intimate  relations  with 
the  Southern  people,  who  looked  upon  all  that  were  loyal  to  the 
Union  as  traitors  to  the  Southern  cause. 

I  never  knew  one  of  these  men  to  quail  in  the  presence  of  dan 
ger,  and  when  I  have  beheld  them  passing  a  battery  with  balls  fly 
ing  all  about  them,  I  have  been  struck  with  the  coolness  they  dis 
played. 

I  think  there  is  a  magnetism  in  a  ship's  wheel  in  time  of  action 
which  is  communicated  to  the  helmsman.  He  feels  that  the  lives 
of  all  are  in  his  hands,  and  I  never  knew  a  pilot  faithless  to  his 
trust. 

When  I  reached  Alexandria  in  the  Cricket  I  was  surprised  to 
find  the  fleet  above  the  "falls."  The  rocks  were  all  bare  a  mile 
above  the  place  where  I  left  the  vessels  when  we  started  up  river. 

Red  River  had  run  out,  as  it  were,  and  left  the  vessels  high  and 
dry,  with  no  chance  of  getting  down  until  a  rise  came,  of  which 
there  was  not  the  slightest  prospect. 

There  was  a  narrow  channel  cut  by  the  flow  of  water  (for  ages 
past)  through  the  middle  of  the  flat  rocks,  and,  as  the  Cricket  drew 
but  eighteen  inches,  Pilot  Drening  succeeded  in  taking  her  through, 
and  we  lay  once  more  in  our  old  berth  at  the  levee,  which  was  now 
lined  with  merchant-steamers.  Cotton  was  king,  and  his  subjects 
mustered  strong  in  Alexandria. 

We  held  the  town  and  the  surrounding  country  for  a  distance 
of  some  six  miles,  and  the  different  divisions  of  the  army  were 
posted  in  the  most  advantageous  positions. 

General  Banks  had  practically  relinquished  the  command  of  the 
troops  to  General  Franklin,  under  whose  management  every  one 
felt  safe.  Besides,  why  should  thirty  thousand  men  fear  an  attack 
from  sixteen  thousand,  which  was  about  the  largest  the  Confeder 
ates  could  muster  ? 

The  army-wagons  were  busily  employed  in  hauling  cotton,  which 
was  loaded  on  the  steamers  from  plethoric  store-houses,  yet  here 


246    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

was  a  whole  fleet  caught  in  a  trap  and  no  one  apparently  concerned 
about  it  except  the  officers  and  men  whose  duty  it  was  to  defend  it. 

Soon  after  I  arrived  at  the  levee  Generals  Banks  and  Hunter 
came  on  board  the  Cricket.  I  don't  know  what  the  latter  was  doing 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  but  presume  he  came  on  a  mission 
from  the  Government. 

These  gentlemen  inquired  which  vessels  I  could  best  afford  to 
blow  up,  as  there  was  no  likelihood  of  a  rise  in  the  river,  and  the 
army  had  to  be  moved  out  of  that.  The  horses  were  getting  thin 
for  want  of  oats  ! 

I  was  lying  quite  helpless  on  my  bed  at  the  time,  suffering  from 
a  troublesome  complaint ;  but  this  cool  proposal  to  destroy  the 
gun-boats  that  had  done  so  much  service,  and  had  really,  so  far, 
saved  the  army,  was  too  much  for  me. 

I  jumped  up,  forgetting  my  pain.  "None  of  the  gun-boats 
shall  be  destroyed,"  I  exclaimed.  "  I'll  take  them  out  as  I  brought 
them  in.  A.  J.  Smith  will  stand  by  me,  and  we  will  show  you  that 
we  can  hold  our  own.  I'll  wait  here  for  high  water  if  I  have  to 
wait  two  years."  The  two  generals  could  make  nothing  out  of  me, 
and  soon  departed. 

Captain  Selfridge  next  came  to  see  me.  "A  bad  fix  we  are 
in,  sir,"  he  said. 

" I  don't  think  so,"  I  replied  ;  "we  will  get  out  of  it  all  right." 

"  What  do  you  propose  to  do,  sir,"  inquired  Selfridge. 

"I  propose  to  get  out  by  an  act  of  Providence,"  I  replied,  and 
I  quoted  Shakespeare  :  "There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends." 

"But,"  said  Selfridge,  "that  won't  hold  water,  which  is  what 
we  want  just  now. " 

Just  after,  General  Franklin  called  and  informed  me  that  he  had 
in  his  corps  a  Colonel  Bailey,  who  had  formerly  been  a  lumberman 
in  the  rivers  of  Maine,  and  that  he  proposed  to  get  my  whole  fleet 
over  the  "  falls  "  by  building  dams  to  raise  the  water  some  fourteen 
feet,  which  was  amply  sufficient. 

I  said  to  the  general  that  I  had  no  doubt  Colonel  Bailey  could 
do  it,  and  that  I  had  been  expecting  just  such  a  man  to  turn  up. 
"  There's  a  sweet  little  cherub  that  sits  up  aloft  to  keep  watch  for 
the  life  of  poor  Jack." — "Bring  your  lumberman  here,  General," 
I  said;  "no  doubt  he  has  more  plain  practical  ideas  about  him 
than  all  of  us  put  together." 

When  Colonel  Bailey  arrived  he  explained  how  he  proposed  to 
dam  the  river  and  get  the  vessels  over  the  obstructions. 


PROVIDENCE  SUPPLIES  THE  MAN  IN  AN  EMERGENCY.   247 

"  If  damning  the  river  would  do  any  good,  we  should  have 
been  out  of  this  long  ago,"  I  said.  But  the  colonel  did  not  appear 
to  understand  the  joke. 

I  wrote  to  General  Banks,  requesting  him  to  approve  of  Colonel 
Bailey's  proposition,  which  he  did  promptly,  and  the  colonel  had 
at  his  disposal  eight  thousand  men  and  all  the  cotton  and  sugar 
machinery  in  the  neighborhood  with  which  to  make  ballast  for  the 
cribs. 

I  believe  that  few  people  realize  what  eight  thousand  disciplined 
men  can  do  when  under  the  direction  of  a  master  mind  ;  but  I  will 
here  insert  the  letter  I  wrote  at  the  time  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy : 

FLAG-SHIP  BLACK  HAWK,  MISSISSIPPI  SQUADRON,  ) 
MOUTH  OF  RED  RIVER,  May  16,  1864.      ) 

SIB  :  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  the  vessels  lately 
caught  by  low  water  above  the  "falls"  at  Alexandria  have  been  re 
leased  from  their  unpleasant  position.  The  water  had  fallen  so 
low  that  I  had  no  hope  or  expectation  of  getting  the  vessels  out 
this  season,  and,  as  the  army  had  made  arrangements  to  evacuate 
the  country,  I  saw  nothing  before  me  but  the  destruction  of  the 
best  part  of  the  Mississippi  squadron. 

There  seems  to  have  been  an  especial  Providence  looking  out  for 
us  in  providing  a  man  equal  to  the  emergency.  Lieutenant-Colo 
nel  Bailey,  acting  engineer  of  the  19th  Army  Corps,  proposed  a 
plan  of  building  a  series  of  dams  across  the  rocks  at  the  "falls" 
and  raising  the  water  high  enough  to  let  the  vessels  pass  over. 
This  proposition  looked  like  madness,  and  the  best  engineers  ridi 
culed  it ;  but  Colonel  Bailey  was  so  sanguine  of  success  that  I  re 
quested  General  Banks  to  have  it  done,  and  he  entered  heartily 
into  the  work.  Provisions  were  short  and  forage  was  almost  out, 
and  the  dam  was  promised  to  be  finished  in  ten  days,  or  the  army 
would  have  to  leave  us.  I  was  doubtful  about  the  time,  but  had 
no  doubt  about  the  ultimate  success  if  time  would  only  permit. 
General  Banks  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Colonel  Bailey  all  the  force 
he  required,  consisting  of  some  three  thousand  men  and  two  or 
three  hundred  wagons.  All  the  neighboring  steam  mills  were  torn 
down  for  material,  two  or  three  regiments  of  Maine  men  were  set 
to  work  felling  trees,  and  on  the  second  day  after  my  arrival  in 
Alexandria  from  Grand  Ecore  the  work  had  fairly  begun.  Trees 
were  falling  with  great  rapidity  ;  teams  were  moving  in  all  direc 
tions,  bringing  in  brick  and  stone  ;  quarries  were  opened  ;  flat-boats 


24:8   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

were  built  to  bring  stone  down  from  above  ;  and  every  man  seemed 
to  be  working  with  a  vigor  I  have  seldom  seen  equaled,  while  per 
haps  not  one  in  fifty  believed  in  the  success  of  the  undertaking. 

These  "falls"  are  about  a  mile  in  length,  filled  with  rugged 
rocks,  over  which,  at  the  present  stage  of  water,  it  seemed  to  be 
impossible  to  make  a  channel. 

The  work  was  commenced  by  running  out  from  the  left  bank 
of  the  river  a  tree-dam,  made  of  the  bodies  of  very  large  trees, 
brush,  brick,  and  stone,  cross-tied  with  other  heavy  timber,  and 
strengthened  in  every  way  which  ingenuity  could  devise.  This 
was  run  out  about  three  hundred  feet  into  the  river ;  four  large 
coal-barges  were  then  filled  with  brick  and  sunk  at  the  end  of  it. 
From  the  right  bank  of  the  river  cribs  filled  with  stone  were  built 
out  to  meet  the  barges.  All  of  which  was  successfully  accom 
plished,  notwithstanding  there  was  a  current  running  of  nine 
miles  an  hour,  which  threatened  to  sweep  everything  before  it. 

It  will  take  too  much  time  to  enter  into  the  details  of  this  truly 
wonderful  work.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  dam  had  nearly  reached 
completion  in  eight  days'  working  time,  and  the  water  had  risen 
sufficiently  on  the  upper  falls  to  allow  the  Fort  Hindman,  Osage, 
and  Neosho  to  get  down  and  be  ready  to  pass  the  dam.  In  an 
other  day  it  would  have  been  high  enough  to  enable  all  the  other 
vessels  to  pass  the  upper  falls.  Unfortunately,  on  the  morning  of 
the  9th  instant  the  pressure  of  water  became  so  great  that  it  swept 
away  two  of  the  stone  barges,  which  swung  in  below  the  dam  on 
one  side.  Seeing  this  unfortunate  accident,  I  jumped  on  a  horse 
and  rode  up  to  where  the  upper  vessels  were  anchored  and  ordered 
the  Lexington  to  pass  the  upper  falls  if  possible,  and  immediately 
attempt  to  go  through  the  dam.  I  thought  I  might  be  able  to  save 
the  four  vessels  below,  not  knowing  whether  the  persons  employed 
on  the  work  would  ever  have  the  heart  to  renew  their  enter 
prise. 

The  Lexington  succeeded  in  getting  over  the  upper  falls  just  in 
time,  the  water  rapidly  falling  as  she  was  passing  over.  She  then 
steered  directly  for  the  opening  in  the  dam,  through  which  the 
water  was  rushing  so  furiously  that  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  but  de 
struction  awaited  her.  Thousands  of  beating  hearts  looked  on  anx 
ious  for  the  result.  The  silence  was  so  great  as  the  Lexington 
approached  the  dam  that,  a  pin  might  almost  be  heard  to  fall.  She 
entered  the  gap  with  a  full  head  of  steam  on,  pitched  down  the 
roaring  torrent,  made  two  or  three  spasmodic  rolls,  hung  for  a  mo- 


LIEUTENANT-COLONEL   BAILEY'S  ADMIRABLE   FEAT.    24:9 

ment  on  the  rocks  below,  was  then  swept  into  deep  water  by  the 
current,  and  rounded-to  safely  into  the  bank.  Thirty  thousand 
voices  rose  in  one  deafening  cheer,  and  universal  joy  seemed  to  per 
vade  the  face  of  every  man  present. 

The  Neosho  followed  next,  all  her  hatches  battened  down  and 
every  precaution  taken  against  accident.  She  did  not  fare  as  well 
as  the  Lexington,  her  pilot  having  become  frightened  as  he  approached 
the  abyss  and  stopped  her  engine,  when  I  particularly  ordered  a  full 
head  of  steam  to  be  carried ;  the  result  was  that  for  the  moment 
her  hull  disappeared  from  sight  under  the  water.  Every  one 
thought  she  was  lost.  She  rose,  however,  swept  along  over  the 
rocks  with  the  current,  and,  fortunately,  escaped  with  only  one  hole 
in  her  bottom,  which  was  stopped  in  the  course  of  an  hour. 

The  Hindman  and  Osage  both  came  through  beautifully  with 
out  touching  a  thing,  and  I  thought  if  I  was  only  fortunate  enough 
to  get  my  large  vessels  as  well  over  the  falls,  my  fleet  once  more 
would  do  good  service  on  the  Mississippi. 

The  accident  to  the  dam,  instead  of  disheartening  Colonel 
Bailey,  only  induced  him  to  renew  his  exertions,  after  he  had  seen 
the  success  of  getting  four  vessels  through. 

The  noble-hearted  soldiers,  seeing  their  labor  of  the  last  eight 
days  swept  away  in  a  moment,  cheerfully  went  to  work  to  repair 
damages,  being  confident  now  that  all  the  gun-boats  would  be  finally 
brought  over.  These  men  had  been  working  for  eight  days  and  nights 
up  to  their  necks  in  water,  in  the  broiling  sun,  cutting  trees  and 
wheeling  bricks,  and  nothing  but  good  humor  prevailed  among 
them. 

On  the  whole,  it  was  very  fortunate  the  dam  was  carried  away, 
as  the  two  barges  that  were  swept  away  from  the  center  swung 
around  against  some  rocks  on  the  left  and  made  a  fine  cushion  for 
the  vessels,  and  prevented  them,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  from 
running  on  certain  destruction. 

The  force  of  the  water  and  the  current  being  too  great  to  con 
struct  a  continuous  dam  of  six  hundred  feet  across  the  river  in  so 
short  a  time,  Colonel  Bailey  determined  to  leave  a  gap  of  fifty-five 
feet  in  the  dam,  and  build  a  series  of  wing-dams  on  the  upper  falls. 
This  was  accomplished  in  three  days'  time,  and  on  the  llth  instant 
the  Mound  City,  Carondelet,  and  Pittsburg  came  over  the  upper 
falls,  a  good  deal  of  labor  having  been  expended  in  hauling  them 
through,  the  channel  being  very  crooked,  and  scarcely  wide  enough 
for  them. 


250    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Next  day  the  Ozark,  Louisville,  Chillicothe,  and  two  tugs  also 
succeeded  in  crossing  the  upper  falls.  Immediately  afterward  the 
Mound  City,  Carondelet,  and  Pittsburg  started  in  succession  to 
pass  the  dam,  all  their  hatches  battened  down,  and  every  precau 
tion  taken  to  prevent  accident. 

The  passage  of  these  vessels  was  a  most  beautiful  sight,  only  to 
be  realized  when  seen.  They  passed  over  without  an  accident,  ex 
cept  the  unshipping  of  one  or  two  rudders.  This  was  witnessed  by 
all  the  troops,  and  the  vessels  were  heartily  cheered  when  they 
passed  over.  Next  morning  at  ten  o'clock  the  Louisville,  Chilli 
cothe,  Ozark,  and  two  tugs  passed  over  without  any  accident,  ex 
cept  the  loss  of  a  man,  who  was  swept  off  the  deck  of  one  of  the 
tugs.  By  three  o'clock  that  afternoon  the  vessels  were  all  coaled, 
ammunition  replaced,  and  all  steamed  down  the  river,  with  the 
convoy  of  transports  in  company. 

A  good  deal  of  difficulty  was  anticipated  in  getting  over  the 
bars  in  lower  Eed  River.  Depth  of  water  reported,  only  five  feet ; 
gun-boats  were  drawing  six.  Providentially,  we  had  a  rise  from  the 
back-water  of  the  Mississippi,  that  river  being  very  high  at  the 
time,  the  back-water,  extending  to  Alexandria,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  distant,  enabling  us  to  pass  all  the  bars  and  obstructions 
in  safety. 

TVords  are  inadequate  to  express  the  admiration  I  feel  for  the 
abilities  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bailey.  This  is,  without  doubt,  the 
best  engineering  feat  ever  performed.  Under  the  best  circumstances 
a  private  company  would  not  have  completed  this  work  under  one 
year,  and  to  an  ordinary  mind  the  whole  thing  would  have  appeared 
an  utter  impossibility.  Leaving  out  his  abilities  as  an  engineer, 
the  credit  he  has  conferred  upon  the  country,  he  has  saved  to  the 
Union  a  valuable  fleet  worth  nearly  two  million  dollars.  More  :  he 
has  deprived  the  enemy  of  a  triumph  which  would  have  embold 
ened  them  to  carry  on  this  war  a  year  or  two  longer,  for  the  in 
tended  departure  of  the  army  was  a  fixed  fact,  and  there  was  noth 
ing  left  for  me  to  do,  in  case  that  event  occurred,  but  to  destroy 
every  part  of  the  vessels,  so  that  the  rebels  could  make  nothing  of 
them.  The  highest  honors  that  the  Government  can  bestow  on 
Colonel  Bailey  can  never  repay  him  for  the  service  he  has  rendered 
the  country. 

To  General  Banks  personally  I  am  much  indebted  for  the 
happy  manner  in  which  he  has  forwarded  this  enterprise,  giving  it 
his  whole  attention  night  and  day,  scarcely  sleeping  while  the  work 


MEN   IN  WHOM  THE  COUNTRY  FEELS  AN  INTEREST.  251 

was  going  on,  tending  personally  to  see  that  all  the  requirements  of 
Colonel  Bailey  were  complied  with  on  the  instant. 

I  do  not  believe  there  ever  was  a  case  where  such  difficulties 
were  overcome  in  such  a  short  space  of  time,  and  without  any 
preparation. 

I  beg  leave  to  mention  the  names  of  some  of  the  persons  en 
gaged  on  this  work,  as  I  think  that  credit  should  be  given  every 
man  employed  on  it.  I  am  unable  to  give  the  names  of  all,  but 
sincerely  trust  that  General  Banks  will  do  full  justice  to  every  offi 
cer  engaged  in  this  undertaking  when  he  makes  his  report.  I  only 
regret  that  time  did  not  enable  me  to  get  the  names  of  all  con 
cerned.  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  most  prominent  per 
sons  : 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Bailey,  acting  military  engineer,  Nineteenth 
Army  Corps,  in  charge  of  the  work. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Pearcall,  assistant. 

Colonel  Dwight,  acting  assistant  inspector-general. 

Lieu  ten  ant- Colonel  W.  B.  Kinsey,  161st  New  York  Volunteers. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Hubbard,  30th  Maine  Volunteers. 

Major  Sawtelle,  provost  marshal,  and 

Lieutenant  Williamson,  ordnance  officer. 

The  following  were  a  portion  of  the  regiments  employed  :  29th 
Maine,  commanded  by  Lieutenant- Colonel  Emerson  ;  116th  New 
York,  commanded  by  Colonel  George  M.  Love  ;  161st  New  York, 
commanded  by  Captain  Prentiss  ;  133d  New  York,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Currie. 

The  engineer  regiment  and  officers  of  the  Thirteenth  Army 
Corps  were  also  employed. 

I  feel  that  I  have  done  but  feeble  justice  to  the  work  or  the  per 
sons  engaged  in  it.  Being  severely  indisposed,  I  feel  myself  unable 
to  go  into  further  details.  I  trust  some  future  historian  will  treat 
this  matter  as  it  deserves  to  be  treated,  because  it  is  a  subject  in 
which  the  whole  country  should  feel  an  interest,  and  the  noble  men 
who  succeeded  so  admirably  in  this  arduous  task  should  not  lose 
one  atom  of  credit  so  justly  due  them. 

The  Mississippi  squadron  will  never  forget  the  obligations  it  is 
under  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bailey. 

Previous  to  passing  the  vessels  over  the  falls  I  had  nearly  all  the 
guns,  ammunition,  provisions,  chain-cables,  anchors,  and  everything 
that  could  affect  their  draught,  taken  out  of  them. 

The  commanders  were  indefatigable  in  their  exertions  to  accom- 


252    INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

plish  the  object  before  them,  and  a  happier  set  of  men  were  never 
seen  than  when  their  vessels  were  once  more  in  fighting  trim. 

If  this  expedition  has  not  been  so  successful  as  the  country  hoped 
for,  it  has  exhibited  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Eastern  and  Western 
men  to  overcome  obstacles  deemed  by  most  people  insurmountable. 
It  has  presented  a  new  feature  in  the  war,  nothing  like  which  has 
ever  been  accomplished  before.  .  .  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

DAVID  D.  PORTER,  Rear-Admiral. 
Hon.  GIDEON  WELLES, 

Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Washington,  D.  0. 

When  all  our  vessels  were  over  the  dam  the  army  prepared  to 
move.  The  gun-boats  took  their  batteries  on  board,  which  had 
been  hauled  around  from  above  the  falls. 

For  nearly  two  miles  below  where  the  vessels  lay  imprisoned 
a  flat  rock  was  extended,  over  which  I  walked  dry-shod,  and  in  a 
week  Colonel  Bailey  had  raised  the  water  to  a  height  sufficient  to 
float  the  gun-boats. 

How  blank  the  Confederates  must  have  looked  when  they  found 
that  their  prey  had  escaped  !  As  for  myself  and  officers,  we  never 
forgot  the  service  that  Colonel  Bailey  had  rendered  us,  and  the  re 
membrances  we  gave  him  will  be  handed  down  to  his  descendants 
and  show  future  ages  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held. 

Through  him  we  saved  a  valuable  set  of  vessels,  without  which 
the  Mississippi  would  for  a  time  have  been  given  over  to  the  incur 
sions  of  guerrillas — a  set  of  cowardly  scoundrels  who  had  no  claim  to 
the  title  of  soldiers. 

When  the  Confederates  saw  that  the  fleet  was  likely  to  escape 
over  the  dam  they  assembled  a  force  of  artillery  to  stop  the  passage 
of  the  vessels  below  Alexandria,  and  attempted  to  force  the  lines  of 
the  Union  army  on  the  single  road  that  led  to  the  point  they  de 
sired  to  reach. 

General  McClernand  had  command  of  the  outposts  four  miles 
from  Alexandria,  and  directly  on  the  road  the  Confederates  desired 
to  travel.  The  latter  made  a  sudden  and  vigorous  attack,  causing 
a  stampede  among  our  troops,  after  which  the  enemy  set  fire  to 
McClernand's  camp. 

Everything  had  passed  so  pleasantly  since  our  return  to  Alex 
andria  that  no  one  suspected  such  a  mean  trick  (!)  on  the  part  of 


GENERAL  BANKS  THANKS  GENERAL  SMITH.         253 

the  Confederates,  but  the  latter  did  not  seem  to  mind  the  strictures 
which  were  passed  upon  them. 

When  this  attack  occurred  I  was  in  General  Smith's  camp,  dis 
tant  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  scene  of  action.  As  soon  as 
the  general  heard  the  firing  he  mounted  his  horse  and  galloped  off 
to  the  front,  ordering  General  Mower  to  follow  with  the  troops  of 
his  division.  It  was  a  fine  sight,  those  gallant  fellows  falling  into 
line  and  going  off  at  double  quick  after  their  gallant  leader.  I  went 
along  to  see  the  fun,  and,  in  twenty  minutes  after  the  alarm,  Smith's 
men  were  on  the  ground  and  busy  putting  out  the  fire. 

As  soon  as  the  Confederates  saw  Smith  and  his  men  coming  they 
decamped  without  having  time  to  carry  off  any  plunder,  but  they 
gained  their  point  in  turning  McClernand's  position. 

Smith's  soldiers  soon  extinguished  the  fire,  which  had  not  done 
much  damage,  but,  when  they  came  across  a  lot  of  clothing  which 
had  been  broken  into  by  the  enemy,  they  saw  an  opportunity  which 
might  not  soon  occur  again,  and  proceeded  to  help  themselves, 
leaving  their  old  clothes  for  the  quartermaster,  so  that  he  could 
square  his  accounts  ;  and,  seeing  McClernand's  men  reforming,  they 
gave  three  cheers  and  marched  back  to  camp. 

General  Banks  rode  up  to  General  Smith  on  the  latter's  return, 
and,  with  a  courtly  salutation,  said,  "  General,  I  have  again  to  thank 
you  for  timely  help,  and  I  shall  not  fail  to  notice  the  conduct  of 
yourself  and  men  in  general  orders." 

"It  wasn't  me,  General,"  said  Smith  ;  " it  was  my  d — d  ragged 
guerrillas  ! "  General  Smith  thought  himself  even  for  the  remark 
which  he  had  quoted,  and  which,  perhaps  unjustly,  had  been  ascribed 
to  General  Banks. 

Smith  and  his  men  had  not  long  returned  before  McClernand's 
quartermaster  claimed  his  clothing,  which  was  considered  by  the 
"ragged  guerrillas"  as  a  very  good  joke. 

The  latter  said  the  clothing  was  recaptured  from  the  enemy, 
and  was  a  lawful  prize  of  war.  How  the  matter  was  settled  I  never 
learned,  but  I  think  Smith's  men  went  back  to  Memphis  better 
dressed  than  when  they  started  out. 

The  next  day,  when  everything  was  ready  for  the  march,  Cap 
tain  Selfridge  informed  me  that  he  had  been  down  the  river  in  a 
tug  and  found  the  water  lower  in  many  places  than  it  had  been 
above  "the  falls,"  and  inquired  what  I  would  do  about  it. 

I  told  him  that  Providence  would  take  care  of  us  ;  that  we  would 
get  out  of  the  river  without  any  more  damming. 


254  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Selfridge  looked  very  doubtful,  and  probably  thought  the  hard 
work  up  the  river,  sitting  up  all  night  drinking  strong  coffee  and 
smoking  cigars,  had  affected  my  brain  ;  but  I  felt  confident  that  we 
should  have  water  enough  to  get  out  of  Red  River.  We  had  had 
so  many  narrow  escapes  that  I  did  not  believe  Providence  would  de 
sert  us  now. 

Banks's  advance-guard  started,  and  he  went  with  it,  while  A.  J. 
Smith  was  to  bring  up  the  rear.  It  would  be  twenty-four  hours 
before  the  latter  was  to  set  out,  and,  if  the  water  did  not  come  in 
that  time,  I  had  determined  to  ask  him  to  hold  on  until  it  did. 

Next  morning,  when  I  awoke,  I  found  the  water  not  only  rising, 
but  running  up  river. 

The  explanation  of  this  phenomenon  was  that,  while  the  Red 
River  was  down  to  its  lowest  level,  the  Mississippi  was  rapidly  ris 
ing,  and  had  attained  a  height  of  fifteen  feet  or  so  above  the  level 
of  Red  River.  The  surplus  water  was  forced  up  Red  River,  and  in 
a  few  hours  reached  its  level  at  Alexandria,  so  that  we  had  more 
water  than  was  necessary,  and  went  on  our  way  rejoicing. 

Two  or  three  days  before  we  left  Alexandria  a  circumstance  oc 
curred  which  seemed  at  one  time  likely  to  give  rise  to  serious  com 
plications.  I  hardly  like  to  mention  the  matter,  as  I  have  endeav 
ored  to  avoid  all  subjects  tending  to  reflect  upon  any  one  personally, 
and  have  in  consequence  been  obliged  to  omit  much  that  would  be 
interesting. 

When  General  A.  J.  Smith  and  myself  reached  Alexandria  on 
our  way  up  Red  River  we  were  the  captors,  if  a  place  that  offered 
no  resistance,  and  whose  inhabitants  made  us  welcome,  could  be 
said  to  have  captors. 

We  were  there  several  days  before  General  Banks  and  his  main 
army  arrived. 

The  town  had  many  large  store-houses  for  cotton,  corrals  for  cat 
tle,  and  stables  for  horses — everything,  in  fact,  that  an  army  would 
require  in  that  line. 

I  needed  a  place  where  I  could  keep  stores  for  the  fleet,  which 
were  brought  in  by  the  semi-monthly  mail-steamer  belonging  to  the 
station,  and  so  took  possession  of  a  small  stable  near  the  levee  where 
my  vessel  made  fast.  The  building  contained  three  horse-stalls  and 
space  for  two  carriages,  and  suited  me  very  well,  though  I  had  only 
one  horse  at  the  time  to  accommodate. 

When  General  Banks's  army  appeared,  the  quartermasters  were 
running  about  in  every  direction  to  find  buildings  to  accommodate 


LIEUTENANT  GORRINGE  AND  A  MILITARY  GOVERNOR.  255 

their  stores,  and  one  of  these  officers  had  some  twenty  barrels  which 
he  had  no  place  for  except  a  store-house  in  the  center  of  the  town, 
which  did  not  suit  his  convenience.  He  therefore  asked  Lieutenant 
Gorringe  for  permission  to  put  the  barrels  in  our  stable  temporarily. 

There  they  remained  for  more  than  a  fortnight,  when  our  store- 
vessel  arrived  with  a  quantity  of  supplies  which  it  was  necessary  to 
discharge  at  once. 

Lieutenant  Gorringe  therefore  requested  the  quartermaster  to 
remove  his  barrels,  as  there  was  no  room  in  the  store-house  ;  but 
that  high  functionary  said  "  he  would  see  him  damned  first,"  add 
ing,  "  You  navy  fellows  have  no  business  on  shore  anyway,  and  can 
keep  your  stores  on  board  your  vessels  ;  I  shall  take  that  store-house 
for  myself." 

When  Gorringe  reported  the  facts  to  me  I  told  him  there  was 
but  one  thing  to  be  done,  as  the  dispatch-boat  could  not  be  kept 
waiting,  and  to  put  the  quartermaster's  barrels  outside  the  door  and 
notify  him  to  remove  them. 

Ten  minutes  after  the  quartermaster  received  this  notice  he  ap 
peared  on  the  levee,  swearing  harder  at  Gorringe  than  did  the  army 
in  Flanders,  and  declaring  that  our  stores  should  not  be  put  into 
the  "stable. 

The  quartermaster  went  at  once  with  a  complaint  to  General 
,  the  military  governor  of  Alexandria,  a  very  clever  and  usu 
ally  courteous  gentleman ;  but  I  presume  the  quartermaster  had 
told  his  own  story,  and  led  the  general  to  suppose  that  his  author 
ity  had  been  interfered  with  ;  so  he  came  at  once  to  the  levee  with 
the  quartermaster,  both  in  a  very  angry  frame  of  mind. 

The  general  ordered  Lieutenant  Gorringe  to  stop  putting  stores 
into  the  stable  or  he  would  send  him  to  the  guard-house  ! 

To  this  Gorringe  paid  no  attention,  and  the  order  was  repeated 
in  terms  still  more  emphatic. 

Gorringe  was  not  a  person  of  angelic  temper,  and  had  a  proper 
appreciation  of  the  respect  due  him  as  an  officer  of  the  navy. 

"If  you  use  such  an  expression  as  that  to  me  again,"  he  said  to 
the  general,  "  I  will  run  my  sword  through  your  body  !  " 

The  general's  rage  was  now  at  white  heat,  and  he  swore  that  he 
would  not  only  put  all  the  stores  into  the  street,  but  he  would  ar 
rest  Gorringe  and  put  him  in  the  guard-house.  And  forthwith  he 
started  off  for  a  guard  to  put  his  threat  into  execution,  while  Gor 
ringe  stepped  on  board  the  Cricket  and  reported  the  case  to  me. 

I  at  once  directed  fifty  marines  and  two  boat-howitzers,  with 


256   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

their  crews,  to  be  landed  for  the  protection  of  our  stores  and  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  navy  who  were  simply  attending  to  their 
duty. 

I  said  to  Lieutenant  Gorringe,  "  I  hope  you  have  sailed  long 
enough  with  me  to  know  my  views  in  such  matters,  and  how  to 
defend  yourself  and  the  Government  property  placed  under  your 
charge." 

When  the  military  guard  of  twenty  men  arrived  at  the  levee  to 
arrest  Gorringe,  they  were  much  astonished  to  find  themselves  con 
fronted  by  the  marines. 

The  military  governor  was  checkmated,  and,  like  all  men  who 
have  exceeded  their  authority,  he  did  not  know  what  to  do.  He 
was  much  more  civil  than  on  his  first  visit,  and  asked  Lieutenant 
Gorringe  what  he  was  doing  there  with  his  marines. 

"I  am  here,"  answered  Gorringe,  "by  order  of  my  command 
ing  officer,  to  protect  naval  property,  and  prevent  any  person  in  the 
navy  from  being  arrested  while  performing  his  duty." 

"  Disband  your  forces  at  once,"  said  the  military  governor,  "or 
I  will  proceed  to  extremities." 

"  You  can  do  so  as  soon  as  you  please,"  said  the  other. 

This  was  a  dilemma  for  the  military  officer,  who,  though  in 
vested  with  power  to  preserve  the  peace,  had  no  authority  to  inter 
fere  with  another  branch  of  the  service,  especially  as  the  command- 
er-in-chief  of  the  naval  forces  was  equal  in  rank  to  the  general 
in  command  of  the  army,  perfectly  independent  of  him,  and  co 
operating  with  him  at  his  own  volition,  for  during  the  whole  war  the 
Navy  Department  left  me  entirely  free  to  do  as  I  thought  proper  in 
this  respect,  and  gave  me  no  orders  to  co-operate  with  anybody. 

"  I  must  see  the  admiral  at  once,"  said  the  military  governor. 
To  which  Lieutenant  Gorringe  replied  that  he  would  inform  the 
admiral  that  the  general  wished  to  see  him,  which  he  accordingly  did. 

"Ask  him  to  come  on  board,"  I  said  ;  and  the  general  shortly 
entered  the  cabin,  where  I  was  busily  writing.  I  arose  and  politely 
requested  him  to  be  seated  until  I  could  sign  and  send  off  a  letter. 
This  document  was  to  Gorringe  and  simply  said  "  Hold  on  ! " 

I  then  made  some  observations  to  the  general  on  the  beautiful 
weather  we  were  having,  and  the  satisfaction  I  experienced  at  seeing 
him  in  a  position  requiring  so  much  judgment  and  forbearance, 
and  that  our  co-operation  so  far  had  been  of  such  a  pleasant  nature 
that  I  should  always  look  back  to  this  time  with  the  most  delight 
ful  recollections,  as  there  could  not  by  any  possibility  be  any  mis- 


A  SLIGHT   DISPUTE  WITH   THE   NAVY.  257 

understanding  between  the  army  and  navy,  their  duties  being  so 
distinct  from  each  other,  and  the  only  chance  of  their  clashing 
would  be  through  the  stupid  blunder  of  an  irresponsible  officer. 

For  myself  I  felt  sure  that  no  one  under  my  command  would 
take  the  liberty  of  interfering  with  any  army  officer. 

The  military  governor  could  scarcely  contain  himself  while  I 
was  calmly  talking,  and,  as  soon  as  possible,  commenced  giving  me 
his  version  of  the  case,  and  how  my  officer  had  threatened  him  with 
his  sword,  etc. 

"  Ah,  then  you  are  the  gentleman  who  damned  my  lieutenant ; 
I  really  wonder  he  didn't  run  you  through,  for  he  is  very  easily 
excited." 

The  general  looked  astonished  that  I  did  not  adopt  his  view  of 
the  case. 

Then  I  told  him  he  had  not  only  forgotten  himself  in  regard  to 
Lieutenant  Gorringe,  but  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  great  discour 
tesy  toward  myself  and  the  navy,  and  that  I  would  support  Lieu 
tenant  Gorringe  to  the  last.  The  general  went  away  a  sadder  and, 
I  hope,  a  wiser  man. 

While  the  general  was  on  board  my  vessel  a  large  crowd  had 
assembled  at  the  stable,  and  reports  flew  rapidly  around  the  town 
that  a  riot  had  taken  place  between  the  soldiers  and  sailors. 

"  Halloo,  boys  ! "  said  some  of  General  A.  J.  Smith's  men, 
"there's  a  row  between  Banks's  men  and  the  navy  ;  let's  stand  by 
the  navy."  So  down  came  five  or  six  hundred  of  Smith's  corps  and 
ranged  themselves  alongside  the  marines,  showing  by  their  looks 
that  they  meant  business,  while  the  military  governor's  guard  evi 
dently  took  little  interest  in  the  dispute.  It  was  generally  under 
stood  that  the  trouble  was  about  the  occupancy  of  an  old  stable 
that  had  been  used  by  the  navy  ever  since  the  capture  of  Alexan 
dria,  and  the  feeling  was  all  in  favor  of  the  navy. 

The  military  governor,  upon  consideration,  withdrew  his  guard 
and  left  us  in  peaceable  possession. 

Shortly  afterward  I  received  a  letter  from  General  Banks  in 
forming  me  that  the  navy  had  taken  possession  of  a  quartermaster's 
store-house,  and  that  I  must  deliver  it  up  at  once  !  If  I  failed  to, do 
this  and  any  unhappy  consequences  should  grow  out  of  the  affair, 
all  the  responsibility  would  rest  upon  my  head,  etc.  In  reply,  I 
informed  the  general  that  my  head  could  bear  all  the  responsir 
bility,  and  that  I  would  hold  on  to  that  stable  as  long,  as  there; was 
a  shot  in  the  locker. 
17 


258   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

That  ended  this  foolish  business.  General  Banks  had  not  re 
covered  from  the  effects  of  the  battle  of  Mansfield  or  Sabine  Cross- 
Roads,  and  thinking  he  might  need  the  aid  of  the  gun -boats  before 
he  got  through,  he  did  not  care  to  exasperate  the  sailors.  Then 
he  may  have  thought  his  troops  would  be  indisposed  to  enter  upon 
such  an  enterprise. 

Above  all,  General  Banks  was  a  good-natured  man  who  disliked 
trouble,  and  doubtless  thought  the  navy  very  ungrateful,  after  he 
had  given  them  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the  Bed  River  country,  to 
act  in  such  an  unfriendly  manner. 

Before  General  Banks  quitted  Alexandria  the  transports  were 
filled  up  with  cotton,  and  a  large  number  of  negroes  of  all  ages  as 
sembled  at  the  levee  to  take  passage  to  New  Orleans. 

One  steamer,  heavily  loaded  and  in  convoy  of  a  small  "  tin-clad  " 
gun-boat,  started  down  the  river,  and  some  sixty  miles  below  the 
town  the  two  vessels  were  attacked  by  the  battery  which  had  suc 
ceeded  in  forcing  its  way  by  McClernand's  division.  The  guns 
were  so  placed  as  to  have  a  complete  cross-fire  on  the  vessels.  The 
gun-boat  was  soon  cut  to  pieces  and  the  one  with  the  cotton 
burned. 

The  news  of  this  disaster  reached  Alexandria  the  night  previous 
to  our  departure,  and  an  order  was  thereupon  issued  to  land  all  the 
cotton  from  the  transports,  and  it  was  pitched  on  shore  without 
any  care  for  its  safety ;  at  the  same  time  the  town  of  Alexandria 
was  set  on  fire  in  a  dozen  places,  principally  in  the  store-houses 
filled  with  cotton. 

The  conflagration  was  a  terrible  one,  and  as  the  army  marched 
away  and  the  transports  left  the  levee,  they  were  covered  with  cin 
ders  and  blazing  flakes  of  cotton  from  the  burning  buildings.  At 
one  time  I  thought  all  the  transports  would  be  consumed,  and  it 
only  needed  that  to  make  the  retreat  the  most  melancholy  affair  of 
the  season. 

The  inhabitants  rushed  to  the  levee  with  such  household  goods 
as  they  could  save,  in  hopes  of  getting  away  in  the  steamers  ;  but 
they  were  not  allowed  to  go  on  board,  and  the  last  I  saw  of  them 
they  were  sitting  by  their  property,  weeping  as  only  those  can  weep 
who  have  lost  their  homes. 

I  felt  for  these  poor  people,  but  could  not  help  them,  for  there 
was  no  room  for  them  on  board  the  gun-boats,  which  had  to  be  in 
readiness  to  drive  away  the  batteries  that  might  be  raised  along  the 
river  to  oppose  our  passage. 


THE   RED   RIVER   EXPEDITION.  259 

The  burning  of  Alexandria  was  a  fit  termination  of  the  unfortu 
nate  Red  River  expedition,  although  it  was  very  hard  on  many  poor 
people  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  Rebellion. 

The  cotton  speculators  were  properly  punished  for  the  greed 
which  had  brought  them  into  the  country,  but,  although  great 
losses  were  entailed  upon  many  persons  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
hostilities  against  the  United  States  and  thought  themselves  safe 
from  our  armies,  yet  the  cause  of  the  Union  received  no  benefit. 

The  expedition  was  originated  more  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
cotton  out  of  the  country  through  an  understanding  with  the  ene 
my  than  for  vindicating  the  laws  and  re-establishing  the  authority  of 
the  United  States  Government ;  and  it  was  certainly  conducted  in 
violation  of  military  principles. 

I  have  given  here  a  brief  outline  of  operations  in  Red  River,  but 
have  prepared  a  detailed  account  of  the  whole  matter,  which,  for 
the  present,  I  withhold  from  publication. 

The  morning  after  we  started  from  Alexandria  I  arose  at  day 
break  to  see  the  army  march  by,  General  Banks  taking  the  road  along 
the  river,  where  he  could  have  the  co-operation  of  the  gun-boats. 
As  the  troops  passed  by  next  morning,  their  commander-in-chief 
was  lying  on  the  ground  ("his  martial  cloak  around  him"),  worn 
out  with  fatigue  and  responsibility.  It  reminded  me  of  Napoleon 
sleeping  in  the  snow  while  his  troops  were  marching  by  to  descend 
into  the  plains  of  Italy. 

Everything  progressed  favorably.  General  Emory  led  the  ad 
vance  and  General  A.  J.  Smith  brought  up  the  rear,  and  the  ene 
my,  although  constantly  skirmishing,  kept  at  a  respectful  distance. 
Our  troops  finally  embarked  and  left  the  country  with  perfect  satis 
faction,  the  Confederates  being  equally  pleased  to  get  rid  of  them. 

Behold  the  difference  !  Grant  landed  at  Bruensburg  with  thirty- 
two  thousand  men,  whipped  eighty  thousand,  and  invested  Vicks- 
burg,  which  he  finally  forced  to  surrender. 

Banks  entered  the  Red  River  country  with  forty-two  thousand 
men  and  two  hundred  wagons.  Twenty  thousand  Confederates 
claimed  that  they  drove  our  army  from  the  country. 

It  was  not  really  so  bad  as  that,  but  the  army  ought  to  have 
stayed  there. 

Under  Grant  or  Sherman,  or  many  of  the  officers  composing 
that  army,  it  would  have  gone  not  only  through  the  Red  River 
country,  but  into  Texas,  without  any  trouble,  for  that  army  con 
sisted  of  as  fine  material  as  ever  went  into  the  field.  It  would  have 


260    INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

been  more  than  a  match,  for  any  army  the  Confederates  could  have 
opposed  to  it. 

I  think  General  Banks  had  a  great  deal  to  contend  against  be 
sides  the  enemy.  Providence  was  manifestly  against  the  expedi 
tion,  doubtless  displeased  to  see  so  fine  an  army  used  for  such  an 
unworthy  purpose,  and  was  determined  it  should  receive  mortifica 
tion  instead  of  victory. 

Yet,  although  deprived  of  victory,  we  had  no  great  loss  of  life 
to  complain  of,  and  much  useful  experience  was  gained.  It  was 
certainly  an  interesting  and  instructive  episode  of  the  war. 

Out  of  all  the  fine  fellows  who  served  with  me  in  the  Bed  River 
expedition,  but  few  remain  in  the  navy.  Death  has  claimed  many 
of  them,  and  some,  worn  out  with  disease,  are  on  the  retired  list. 

Of  those  who  accompanied  me  to  Loggy  Bayou,  I  recall  only 
Selfridge  as  still  in  active  service.  He  has  only  attained  the  rank 
of  captain,  and  had  to  wait  long  and  patiently  for  that. 

I  have  not  eulogized  my  officers  in  this  connection,  but  in  my 
official  reports  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  I  have  done  them  jus 
tice,  and  I  don't  think  any  of  them  ever  found  fault  with  me  for 
not  appreciating  their  services. 

Selfridge  has  had  a  singular  career.  He  had  the  fortune  to 
serve  in  ships  that  went  to  the  bottom.  He  first  was  sunk  in  the 
Cumberland,  in  Hampton  Roads,  by  the  rebel  ram  Merrimac  ; 
then  he  joined  me  in  the  Mississippi,  and  was  blown  up  in  the  Ya- 
zoo  River  by  a  torpedo.  I  immediately  ordered  him  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  Conestoga,  and  some  time  afterward  that  vessel  was 
run  down  by  one  of  our  own  rams  and  went  to  the  bottom. 

I  told  Selfridge  that,  to  cure  him  of  his  habit  of  sinking,  I 
would  order  him  to  the  "  turtle-back  "  Neosho  and  change  his  luck. 
"You  have  tried  all  the  other  kinds  of  vessels,"  I  said,  "and  they 
either  go  up  or  down  with  you  ;  take  the  Neosho,  and  may  your 
shadow  never  be  less." 

Selfridge  started  in  search  of  fame,  and  did  good  work  with  the 
vessel  while  in  command  of  her.  After  the  Red  River  expedition 
I  sent  him  up  the  Mississippi,  and  in  a  few  days  followed  after. 

One  day  I  saw  a  sand-bank  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  the 
Neosho  in  the  middle  of  the  sand-bank.  "  Here,"  I  exclaimed,  "  is 
Selfridge  in  a  new  role. " 

Selfridge  came  on  board  to  explain  the  mystery.  He  had  an 
chored  at  a  point  where  the  rebels  were  trying  to  pass  some  cattle 
across  the  river,  and  he  determined  to  prevent  them.  It  was  the 


CAPTAIN   SELFRIDGE'S   LUCK.  261 

only  road,  and  they  had  to  turn  back  with  their  cattle.  Probably 
the  river  fell  faster  than  usual ;  but  one  morning  the  Neosho  was 
high  and  dry,  and  there  was  no  necessity  of  going  away  from  the 
ship  for  sand  to  holy-stone  decks  with. 

As  soon  as  Self  ridge  had  made  his  report  I  said  :  "  Come,  pack 
your  trunk  and  go  with  me.  The  vessel  is  in  an  excellent  position, 
commanding  that  road ;  no  one  can  get  at  her  to  board  her,  and 
we'll  leave  her  in  charge  of  the  first  lieutenant." 

I  took  Selfridge  to  Mound  City  and  gave  him  command  of  the 
powerful  ram  Vindicator,  after  which  everything  went  along 
smoothly  with  him. 

He  accompanied  me  on  the  Fort  Fisher  expedition,  and  only 
lost  a  foretopmast,  and  has  had  good  luck  ever  since.  His  was  a 
curious  series  of  mishaps,  yet  in  all  of  them  he  gained  reputation. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TAKE  COMMAND  OF  FORTH  ATLANTIC  SQUADRON — RENEW  AN  OLD 
ACQUAINTANCE — A  YISIT  FROM  GENERAL  BUTLER — THE  GEN- 
ERAL'S  FLAG-SHIP  BLOWN  UP— SAVE  THE  GENERAL  FROM  A 
DUCKING — THE  GENERAL  VISITS  THE  MALVERN  WITH  A  PLAN 
OF  POWDER-BOAT  TO  BLOW  UP  FORT  FISHER — AN  ENSIGN  SETS 
THE  PLAN  TO  MUSIC  AND  RHYME — A  STEAMER  AND  ONE  HUN 
DRED  AND  FIFTY  TONS  OF  POWDER  REQUIRED  TO  DO  THE  WORK 
— THE  ADMIRAL,  IN  THE  EXCITEMENT  OF  THE  MOMENT,  TELE 
GRAPHS  FOR  FIFTEEN  THOUSAND  TONS  OF  POWDER — THE  CHIEF 
OF  BUREAU  OF  ORDNANCE  OFFERS  HIM  MOUNT  VESUVIUS  AND 
NIAGARA  FALLS  TO  DO  THE  WORK  WITH — THE  POWDER-BOAT 
DISTURBS  THE  SENTINELS  AT  FORT  FISHER — FORT  FISHER  DOES 
NOT  BLOW  UP  WORTH  A  CENT — A  TRAP  SET  FOR  BLOCKADE- 
RUNNERS — AN  IRISH  TORPEDO-BOAT — FALL  OF  WILMINGTON. 

IN  October,  1864,  I  took  command  of  the  North  Atlantic 
squadron,  with  directions  to  bombard  Fort  Fisher  and  the  other 
defenses  at  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River. 

From  my  study  of  the  subject  I  was  satisfied  that  the  reduction 
of  these  works  could  only  be  accomplished  by  a  combined  military 
and  naval  force,  and  General  Grant  had  promised  that  a  body  of 


262  INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

troops  should  be  ready  at  the  proper  time — when  all  the  naval  ves 
sels  had  assembled  in  Hampton  Roads. 

General  Grant  was  anxious  to  do  everything  he  could  to  forward 
the  expedition ;  but,  as  the  troops  would  have  to  be  taken  from 
General  Butler's  command,  which  occupied  an  important  position 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  James  Eiver,  they  could  not  be  removed 
until  arrangements  were  made  for  other  troops  to  take  their  place. 

I  was  walking  with  General  Grant  at  City  Point,  on  the  James 
Eiver,  when  I  espied  General  Butler  approaching,  and  said  to 
Grant :  "  Please  don't  introduce  me  to  Butler.  We  had  a  little 
difficulty  at  New  Orleans,  and  although  I  attach  no  importance  to 
the  matter,  perhaps  he  does." 

"Oh  !"  said  Grant,  "you  will  find  Butler  quite  willing  to  for 
get  old  feuds,  and,  as  the  troops  who  are  to  accompany  you  will  be 
taken  from  his  command,  it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  communi 
cate  with  him  from  time  to  time."  So  when  General  Butler  came 
up  the  introduction  took  place.  The  general  was  very  pleasant, 
and  I  invited  him  to  lunch  with  me  on  board  the  vessel  in  which  I 
had  come  up  the  river ;  so  a  good  understanding  was  apparently 
established  between  us. 

From  my  knowledge  of  General  Butler's  peculiarities,  I  thought 
it  best  we  should  not  co-operate  in  so  important  an  affair  as  the  at 
tack  on  Fort  Fisher,  for  when  men  have  once  had  an  encounter  of 
sharp  words  they  are  not  likely  ever  again  to  be  in  complete  accord 
with  each  other  ;  and  the  general  and  myself  had  had  a  little  diffi 
culty  at  New  Orleans  at  a  time  when  he  had  not  been  long  enough 
in  military  employment  to  understand  the  courtesy  due  from  the 
officers  of  either  branch  of  the  service  to  the  other.  I  presume  I 
had  my  peculiarities  as  well  as  the  general,  one  of  them  being  a 
determination  not  to  submit  to  rudeness  from  any  one. 

As  far  as  I  was  concerned,  I  did  not  intend  to  let  past  differ 
ences  stand  in  the  way,  but  I  feared  the  general  had  not  forgotten 
the  trouble,  and  that  it  might  interfere  with  the  important  opera 
tions  that  were  intended. 

I  therefore  suggested  to  General  Grant  the  propriety  of  sending 
some  one  in  command  of  the  land  forces  with  whom  I  would  be  in 
entire  accord,  and  Grant  thereupon  said  he  would  send  General 
"Weitzel  in  command,  a  selection  with  which  I  was  quite  satisfied. 

General  Butler  made  himself  very  agreeable  in  his  intercourse 
with  me,  and  was  apparently  very  busy  in  making  preparations  for 
embarking  the  troops  that  were  to  go  to  Fort  Fisher.  We  visited 


A   VISIT   FROM   GENERAL  BUTLER.  2G3 

each  other  and  hobnobbed  together.  I  was  pleased  with  his  zeal 
for  the  success  of  the  expedition,  and  as  General  Weitzel  was  always 
with  him  when  he  visited  my  flag-ship,  I  took  it  for  granted  that 
Weitzel's  going  in  command  of  the  troops  was  a  fixed  fact. 

Butler  made  many  visits,  but  the  troops  were  not  forthcoming, 
though  winter  was  approaching,  and  it  was  necessary  we  should 
commence  operations  before  it  became  too  stormy  on  the  coast. 
The  fleet  was  all  ready,  and,  as  time  passed,  my  patience  was  be 
coming  exhausted. 

In  a  leisure  interval  I  went  up  the  James  Eiver  to  Dutch  Gap 
in  the  flag-ship  Malvern  to  give  orders  to  the  vessels  that  would  be 
left  there  in  my  absence.  The  cutting  of  the  canal  at  Dutch  Gap 
was  a  very  good  idea,  contrary  to  the  general  impression,  and  should 
have  been  undertaken  earlier  in  the  war. 

While  I  was  at  Dutch  Gap,  General  Butler  came  up  to  see  me 
in  the  Greyhound,  which  was  his  headquarters  when  afloat.  This 
vessel  deserved  her  name,  for  she  was  a  long,  lean-looking  craft, 
and  the  fastest  steamer  on  the  river. 

The  general  informed  me  that  Mr.  Fox,  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  wished  to  see  me  without  delay  at  Hampton  Koads  on 
important  business,  and,  as  my  flag-ship  was  rather  a  slow  vessel, 
he  would  take  me  down  in  the  Greyhound.  To  this  I  agreed. 

The  Greyhound  had  been  lying  about  an  hour  at  the  bank  when 
we  started  down  river. 

The  vicinity  of  Dutch  Gap  was  a  kind  of  neutral  ground  be 
tween  the  two  armies,  where  prisoners  were  exchanged,  and  all  sorts 
of  people  seemed  to  be  hanging  around  the  neighborhood.  I  never 
saw  so  many  hang-dog-looking  rascals  congregated  together  in  one 
place.  The  Confederates  doubtless  had  spies  there  all  the  time 
among  the  adventurers  who  always  follow  in  the  wake  of  a  great 
army. 

I  found  General  Schenck  on  board  the  Greyhound  as  Butler's 
guest ;  he  had  suffered  from  his  wounds,  and  was  taking  a  little  ex 
cursion  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 

There  were  no  arms  on  board  the  Greyhound  to  my  knowledge 
except  General  Butler's  sword,  which,  though  a  formidable-look 
ing  weapon,  was  of  no  use  to  any  one  except  the  owner,  who  seldom 
laid  it  aside. 

The  general's  boat's  crew  wore  his  uniform,  but  had  not  so  much 
as  a  pop-gun  among  them. 

There  was  a  captain  and  a  pilot,  an  engineer,  several  firemen 


264:   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

and  coal-heavers,  a  couple  of  deck-hands,  and  a  cook  and  stew 
ard. 

I  never  carried  a  sword  or  pistol  at  any  time  ;  neither  did  Gen 
eral  Schenck ;  so  here  was  a  vessel,  totally  unarmed,  carrying  two 
major-generals  up  and  down  the  James  River  with  nothing  to  pro 
tect  them,  to  say  nothing  of  an  admiral  who  seldom  traveled  in 
such  a  careless  fashion. 

The  two  generals  immediately  sat  down  to  a  political  discussion, 
while  I  thought  I  would  take  a  turn  through  the  upper  saloon  of 
the  Greyhound,  which  was  fitted  like  most  passenger-steamers  of 
her  class,  although  her  saloon  may  have  been  a  little  more  gorgeous 
than  usual.  She  cost  the  Government  only  about  $500  a  day, 
and  carried  the  general  with  great  speed  from  point  to  point  where 
his  services  were  required.  Every  general  of  importance  had  a  ves 
sel  for  this  purpose,  but  the  Greyhound  was  the  gem  of  them  all. 

It  was  about  half  an  hour  after  we  started  down  the  river  that 
I  went  up  to  the  saloon,  and  there  I  found  half  a  dozen  of  those 
cut- throat-looking  fellows,  such  as  haunted  Dutch  Gap,  scattered 
through  the  apartment. 

I  was  so  much  struck  with  the  appearance  of  these  men  and  the 
confusion  they  exhibited  that  I  said  to  one  of  them,  "  What  are 
you  doing  here  ?  Does  the  Greyhound  carry  first-class  passen 
gers?"  The  fellow  glared  impudently  at  me  and  said,  "We  are 
just  lookin'  round  to  see  how  you  fellers  live  ;  we  ain't  a  doin'  no 
harm." 

Not  wishing  to  let  these  men  see  that  I  suspected  them,  I  walked 
about  quietly,  as  if  amusing  myself,  while  they,  one  after  another 
disappeared  below.  , 

I  went  immediately  to  General  Butler  and  said,  "  General,  I 
don't  particularly  care  to  be  captured  just  now,  as  I  have  important 
business  on  hand,  and  I  don't  suppose  you  do  either ;  but  you  have 
a  cargo  of  the  worst-looking  wretches  on  board  this  vessel  that  ever 
I  laid  eyes  on ;  hadn't  you  better  look  after  them  before  they  do 
any  harm  ?  " 

The  general  acted  promptly  and  ordered  the  captain  to  round- 
to  at  Bermuda  Hundreds,  and  turned  our  passengers  over  to  a 
guard  to  give  an  account  of  themselves,  much  to  their  disgust. 
After  a  thorough  search  to  see  that  there  were  no  stowaways  on 
board,  we  proceeded  on  our  way,  no  one  attaching  much  importance 
to  the  fellows  whom  we  had  put  ashore,  as  it  was  supposed  they 
were  merely  loafers  trying  to  get  to  Hampton  Eoads  free  of  expense. 


EXPLOSION  AND  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  GREYHOUND.    265 

We  had  left  Bermuda  Hundreds  five  or  six  miles  behind  us 
when  suddenly  an  explosion  forward  startled  us,  and  in  a  moment 
large  volumes  of  smoke  poured  out  of  the  engine-room.  The  en 
gineer  at  once  closed  the  throttle-valve,  stopping  the  vessel,  and 
opened  the  safety-valve  ;  the  steam  rushed  out,  and  the  Greyhound 
howled  louder  than  her  living  namesake  would  have  done. 

The  generals  stopped  their  conversation,  and  the  crew  seized 
the  planks  lying  about  the  deck  and  jumped  overboard. 

"What's  that?"  exclaimed  General  Butler. 

"  Torpedo  ! "  I  answered.     "  I  know  the  sound." 

The  vessel  was  now  in  flames  amidships,  and  the  upper  saloon 
filled  with  smoke  like  that  from  coal-tar.  We  were  cut  off  com 
pletely  from  the  crew,  whom  we  did  not  know  had  jumped  over 
board. 

I  was  in  full  vigor  at  that  time,  and  possessed  considerable 
bodily  strength.  The  general's  gig  hung  at  the  port  quarter,  its 
bow  resting  on  a  house  abaft  the  wheel.  I  put  my  shoulder  under 
the  boat  and  raised  it  from  its  rest,  while  the  steward  hauled  in  the 
slack  of  the  tackle.  When  the  boat  was  clear  of  the  wheel-house  I 
lowered  the  after-tackle  and  left  the  boat  hanging  within  two  feet 
of  the  water.  I  then  lowered  a  smaller  boat  on  the  starboard  side, 
put  the  steward  and  stewardess  in  her,  and  bade  them  look  out  for 
themselves.  In  the  mean  time  some  of  the  gig's  crew  had  swam 
around  to  the  gangway,  and  we  all  got  into  the  boat  and  shoved  off, 
with  the  exception  of  the  captain  of  the  steamer,  who  worked  his 
way  aft,  hauled  down  the  colors,  and  seated  himself  on  the  rudder, 
whence  we  took  him  off. 

From  the  moment  of  the  explosion  until  the  time  of  our  leav 
ing  the  Greyhound  was  certainly  less  than  five  minutes,  yet  the 
flames  made  such  progress  that  the  general's  aid,  who  had  gathered 
up  some  of  his  papers  and  was  the  last  one  to  get  into  the  boat,  had 
his  hand  burned. 

We  picked  up  the  rest  of  the  men  who  were  floating  in  the 
water,  and  then  lay  on  our  oars  watching  the  conflagration.  The 
Greyhound  was  now  wrapped  in  flames  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
and,  in  newspaper  parlance,  was  a  "grand  spectacle." 

There  was  one  melancholy  event  connected  with  the  destruction 
of  the  Greyhound.  General  'Butler  had  two  or  three  fine  horses  on 
board,  and  their  cries  when  the  flames  reached  them  were  dreadful 
to  hear,  but  their  sufferings  lasted  only  a  short  time,  and  their  last 
groans  were  unheard  amid  the  roaring  of  the  flames,  the  crashing 


266  INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

of  timbers,  and  the  noise  of  the  steam,  which  continued  blowing 
off  to  the  last. 

I  think  I  saved  General  Butler  a  ducking  on  that  occasion,  if 
not  his  life ;  but  I  am  afraid  he  forgot  the  service,  although  I 
would  have  worked  as  hard  to  get  him  out  of  that  vessel,  even  had 
I  known  beforehand  he  would  try  to  injure  me. 

Shortly  afterward  an  army  transport,  loaded  with  troops  for 
Hampton  Eoads,  came  along,  and  General  Butler  proposed  we 
should  take  passage  in  her ;  but  I  had  had  enough  of  army  steam 
ers  for  one  day,  and,  knowing  that  we  should  soon  meet  a  navy 
tug,  I  proposed  to  pull  on  down  the  river.  In  half  an  hour  we  met 
the  tug,  went  on  board,  and  turned  her  back  to  Fortress  Monroe. 

The  firemen  were  just  going  to  dinner  as  we  embarked,  but 
kindly  volunteered  to  relinquish  their  meal  to  us  ;  so  we  sat  down 
to  pork  and  beans  served  in  tin  plates  with  iron  spoons,  and  en 
joyed  it  as  much  as  if  it  had  been  a  dinner  at  Delmonico's. 

I  do  not  know  that  there  was  ever  any  investigation  into  the 
loss  of  the  Greyhound.  My  theory  was  that  the  fellows  put  ashore 
at  Bermuda  Hundreds  had  planned  to  capture  General  Butler  and 
destroy  the  Greyhound,  and  I  believe  they  were  provided  with  tor 
pedoes  to  throw  among  the  coal,  which  they  could  easily  do  when 
the  firemen's  backs  were  turned.  They  could  also  have  saturated 
the  wood-work  in  the  vicinity  of  the  engine  and  fire-rooms  with 
tar-oil  with  very  little  chance  of  detection. 

When  the  torpedo  was  thrown  into  the  furnace  with  the  coal, 
it  soon  burst,  blowing  the  furnace-doors  open  and  throwing  the 
burning  mass  into  the  fire-room,  where  it  communicated  with  the 
wood-work.  Perhaps  the  shell  may  have  contained  some  volatile 
matter  which  caught  the  saturated  wood.  We  were  furnished  with 
such  shells  ourselves  during  the  war,  but  never  used  them.  Only 
a  few  months  ago  the  inventor  inquired  of  me  how  many  had  been 
expended  by  the  navy  during  the  war,  probably  with  the  idea  of 
claiming  a  royalty. 

In  whatever  manner  the  Greyhound  was  set  on  fire,  I  am  sure 
it  was  not  one  of  the  ordinary  accidents  to  which  all  ships  are  lia 
ble.  In  devices  for  blowing  up  vessels  the  Confederates  were  far 
ahead  of  us,  putting  Yankee  ingenuity  to  shame. 

When  we  reached  Hampton  Roads  a  large  assembly  of  the  gen 
eral's  friends  was  there  to  congratulate  him  on  his  escape  from 
death,  but  the  rest  of  us  were  unnoticed.  I  slipped  on  board  one 
of  the  vessels  of  the  squadron  and  invited  myself  to  take  tea 


HOW  TO  BLOW  UP  FORT  FISHER.  267 

with  the  captain,  but  resolved  to  keep  clear  of  army  steamers  in 
future. 

We  waited  patiently  for  the  soldiers  promised  by  General  Grant. 
It  was  no  use  to  attack  Fort  Fisher  without  them,  for,  although 
we  might  disable  the  guns,  we  could  not  take  possession  of  the 
place.  The  defenders  would  stow  themselves  away  in  bomb-proofs, 
and  would  be  safe  against  our  fire.  All  I  wanted  of  the  army  was 
to  occupy  the  works  after  I  had  finished  with  them.  I  supposed 
they  would  have  some  fighting  to  do,  but  did  not  think  they  would 
meet  with  any  great  loss. 

One  day  General  Butler  came  on  board  the  Malvern,  accompa 
nied  by  Genera]  Weitzel,  some  of  his  staff,  and  a  reporter,  and  said 
that  he  had  an  important  communication  to  make  to  me. 

I  had  a  faint  hope  that  there  was  now  a  prospect  of  getting  the 
fleet  off  to  Fort  Fisher.  I  saw  plainly  that  I  could  not  get  away 
until  General  Butler  chose  to  send  his  troops,  for  at  that  time  But 
ler  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power  and  seemed  to  do  pretty  much  as 
he  pleased. 

When  we  were  all  in  the  cabin,  including  Captain  K.  E.  Breese, 
my  fleet-captain,  General  Butler  said,  "  The  communication  I  have 
to  make  is  so  important  that  I  deem  it  necessary  to  observe  the 
greatest  secrecy."  Then  he  and  Weitzel  and  the  stenographic 
reporter  whispered  together.  This  was  a  common  practice  with 
these  gentlemen  when  they  visited  my  ship,  as  if  they  hesitated 
about  taking  me  into  their  confidence  ;  but  I  was  willing  to  stand 
almost  any  nonsense  if  I  could  only  get  off,  although  by  nature  not 
of  the  most  patient  disposition. 

"Mr.  Keporter,"  said  the  general,  "don't  you  miss  one  syllable 
that  I  say,  and  put  it  down  exactly  as  I  say  it.  Weitzel,  you  pay 
attention.  Remember,  this  proposition  is  altogether  mine.  I  have 
never  mentioned  it  to  anybody  except  you. "  Then  he  whispered 
for  a  while  to  Weitzel,  and  took  his  seat,  evidently  much  excited — 
something  like  a  hen  that  has  laid  an  egg. 

My  patience  was  rapidly  evaporating  when  the  stenographer  got 
down  to  his  work,  the  general  watching  every  word  he  wrote.  Gen 
eral  Butler  seemed  so  intent  on  his  project,  and  so  earnest,  that  I 
began  to  be  curious  to  hear  all  about  it.  I  had  not  the  faintest 
idea  what  he  was  driving  at.  It  certainly  could  not  be  a  balloon 
attack,  for  we  had  no  balloons,  and  couldn't  get  them  without  an 
act  of  Congress.  Perhaps,  thought  I,  he  intends  to  introduce  rat 
tlesnakes  into  Fort  Fisher  on  the  sly  ;  but  this  idea  I  at  once  dis- 


268   INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

missed ;  there  was  nothing  in  the  Constitution  which  would  au 
thorize  such  a  proceeding. 

I  whispered  to  Captain  Breese,  "  The  general  is  going  to  propose 
his  'petroleum  bath/  such  as  he  has  already  proposed  to  use  on 
James  Eiver.  He  is  going  to  attack  Fort  Fisher  from  seaward  by 
setting  afloat  tons  of  petroleum  when  the  wind  is  on  shore,  and,  by 
igniting  it,  knock  the  rebs  out  of  their  boots  !  "  I  thought  the  ab 
surdity  of  such  an  idea  would  be  a  great  recommendation,  especially 
as  it  would  cost  a  great  deal  of  money,  for  at  that  time  there  was 
great  competition  in  Washington  as  to  which  department  could 
make  the  largest  expenditure. 

At  length  the  reporter  stood  up  and  read  what  he  had  taken 
down.  I  never  obtained  a  copy  of  the  precious  original,  but  one 
of  my  aides  got  hold  of  it  and  turned  it  into  rhyme.  As  well  as 
my  memory  serves  me  it  ran  as  follows  : 

"  You  have,  no  doubt,  heard  of  the  Kiver  Thames, 
A  stream  just  about  the  size  of  the  James, 
Where  at  Erith  the  magazine  burst  into  flames : 

'Twas  a  great  magazine, 

Strong  as  any  you've  seen, 
But  'twas  blown  into  atoms,  just  by  a  spark 
Getting  into  the  powder.     A  fool  in  the  dark 
Sat  smoking  a  penny  cigar  in  a  barge 
Filled  up  with  explosives  which  he  had  in  charge. 

14  For  miles  away,  it  is  reported  to  me, 
There  was  not  to  be  seen  a  house  or  a  tree 
That  was  not  shattered,  blown  up,  or  blown  down  ; 
There  was  not  a  glass  left  in  the  neighboring  town, 

And  the  birds  on  their  perch 

Took  an  awful  lee  lurch  ; 

The  cows  milked  water,  the  dogs  lost  their  bark, 
All  owing  to  powder  and  a  very  small  spark. 
The  hens  stopped  laying,  the  cats  got  afraid 
To  enliven  the  night  with  their  sweet  serenade." 

There  was  a  good  deal  more  of  this,  but  it  has  been  forgotten. 
The  amount  of  it  was  that  the  general  proposed  to  blow  up  Fort 
Fisher  with  a  "powder-boat"  laden  with  one  hundred  and  fifty 
tons  of  powder.  He  argued  the  subject  with  so  much  eloquence, 
and  showed  such  a  knowledge  of  pyrotechnics,  that  no  one  could 
controvert  his  opinions. 

"When  the  matter  of  the  proposed  powder-boat  had  been  sub- 


THE   "POWDER-BOAT"   SCHEME.  269 

mitted,  I  saw  at  once  that  here  was  something  to  simplify  matters 
very  much,  requiring  no  act  of  Congress  or  interference  of  the 
Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War  ! 

The  army  and  navy  had  plenty  of  bad  powder  and  worthless 
vessels — in  fact,  material  for  half  a  dozen  powder-boats  if  neces 
sary. 

I  don't  know  whether  the  general  claimed  the  powder-boat  as 
an  original  idea,  but  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,  and  such 
a  means  of  attack  has  been  employed  before. 

I  arose  from  my  seat,  and  in  a  short  speech  accepted  the  gener 
al's  plan,  at  the  same  time  eulogizing  the  head  that  could  conceive 
such  a  brilliant  idea.  The  navy  and  the  powder-boat  would  be  all- 
sufficient,  and  I  rather  liked  the  notion,  as  the  expedition  would  be 
entirely  a  naval  affair,  and  I  was  not  anxious  to  repeat  my  Ked 
Kiver  experience  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

I  think  I  stood  higher  in  General  Butler's  estimation  at  that 
moment  than  I  have  ever  done  before  or  since,  for,  on  the  whole, 
he  didn't  seem  to  fancy  me,  as  I  had  an  unpleasant  way  of  speak 
ing  my  mind  freely  and  not  permitting  any  one  to  interfere  with 
my  business. 

I  don't  hesitate  to  say  that  I  encouraged  this  scheme  of  a  pow 
der-boat,  for  in  it  I  saw  the  road  to  success,  and  I  was  pleased  to 
see  that,  notwithstanding  General  Butler's  enthusiasm  at  the  idea 
of  blowing  up  Fort  Fisher,  he  was  not  at  all  disinclined  to  have  the 
navy  go  along,  and  also  the  contingent  of  troops  that  had  been 
originally  proposed! 

Many  persons  have  ridiculed  General  Butler's  plan,  but  in  war 
it  is  worth  while  to  try  everything,  and  some  of  our  most  scientific 
officers  in  Washington  were  so  much  impressed  with  the  idea  of  the 
powder-boat  that  they  carefully  investigated  the  subject.  The  re 
sult  of  their  calculations  went  to  show  that  if  a  hundred  and  fifty 
tons  of  powder,  confined  in  an  inclosed  space,  could  be  at  once  ex 
ploded  at  a  short  distance  from  Fort  Fisher,  the  concussion  would 
displace  so  much  air  and  so  rapidly  that  it  would  kill  every  living 
thing  in  the  vicinity,  and  wipe  the  sand  fort  out  of  existence. 

At  this  lapse  of  time  I  have  forgotten  how  much  faith  I  really 
had  in  the  project,  but  I  must  have  been  somewhat  excited,  as  I 
telegraphed  to  Captain  Wise,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance, 
Navy  Department,  that  1  wanted  fifteen  thousand  tons  of  powder 
to  blow  up  Fort  Fisher,  instead  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  the 
amount  asked  for  by  General  Butler.  I  was  vexed  at  Wise's  an- 


270   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

swer  :  "  Why  don't  you  make  a  requisition  for  Niagara  Falls  and 
Mount  Vesuvius  ?  they  will  do  the  job  for  you." 

This  little  mistake  of  two  ciphers  would  indicate  that  I  was  not 
so  phlegmatic  as  usual,  so  I  really  think  I  must  have  believed  in 
the  scheme. 

After  General  Butler  and  his  staff  had  departed,  Captain 
Breese  said  to  me  :  "Admiral,  you  certainly  don't  believe  in  that 
idea  of  a  powder-boat.  It  has  about  as  much  chance  of  blowing 
up  the  fort  as  I  have  of  flying  !  " 

' ( And  who  knows,"  I  said,  "  whether  a  machine  may  not  soon  be 
perfected  to  enable  us  all  to  fly,  as  it  only  requires  a  forty-horse 
power  in  a  cubic  foot  of  space,  and  a  propeller  that  will  make  such 
a  vacuum  that  the  air  will  rush  in  and  drive  the  thing  along." 

Breese  looked  disappointed  that  I  should  lend  myself  to  such  a 
project.  I  directed  him  to  make  signal  to  the  powder-magazine 
and  inquire  how  much  powder  they  had  on  hand. 

Breese  sighed  as  he  walked  out  of  the  cabin,  and  I  thought  I 
heard  him  say  "  All  bosh ! " — but  one  has  to  be  a  little  deaf  occa 
sionally. 

In  answer  to  a  telegram,  I  was  told  by  the  Navy  Department 
to  take  any  steamer  I  wanted  for  blowing  up,  for  both  the  War 
and  Navy  Departments  highly  approved  the  powder-boat  scheme ; 
in  fact,  General  Butler  had  a  right  to  be  proud  of  the  support  he 
received  from  some  of  the  most  "  scientific  "  men  in  both  branches 
of  the  service. 

I  sent  a  tug  to  Newbern,  North  Carolina,  for  the  steamer  Louisi 
ana,  a  valuable  vessel,  worth  at  least  a  thousand  dollars  !  I  calcu 
lated  that  by  passing  hawsers  around  her  and  "  setting  them  taut," 
she  would  hold  together  long  enough  to  get  to  Fort  Fisher. 

Next  day  the  powder-boat  arrived  at  Hampton  Roads,  and  Cap 
tain  Jeffers,  of  the  Ordnance  Bureau,  came  from  Washington  to 
take  charge  of  loading  her  and  laying  the  "  Gomer  fuse,"  which 
would  ignite  any  quantity  of  powder  quicker  than  lightning — that 
is,  if  the  fuse  went  off,  which  it  sometimes  failed  to  do. 

Several  young  army  officers  fresh  from  West  Point  also  ap 
peared  on  the  scene,  bringing  with  them  a  cart-load  of  books  relat 
ing  to  explosives,  and  in  the  course  of  their  researches  one  of  them 
discovered  that  the  illustrious  Chi-Fung,  a  Chinese  general,  had 
blown  up  an  enemy's  fort  with  gunpowder  several  centuries  before 
the  discovery  of  America,  but  whether  he  used  a  powder-boat  his 
tory  did  not  say. 


"ARRIVAL  OF   THE   'POWDER-BOAT.'"  271 

The  day  the  steamer  arrived  I  sent  an  officer  to  General  Weit- 
zel's  camp  to  find  out  quietly  if  anything  different  from  usual  was 
going  on.  He  returned  shortly  after  and  informed  me  that  they 
were  telling  off  the  contingent  that  was  to  go  to  Fort  Fisher,  that 
transports  were  assembling  near  Dutch  Gap,  and  everybody  was 
talking  hopefully  of  what  the  powder-boat  would  do.  The  soldiers 
seemed  to  fancy  they  would  have  an  easy  job,  as  the  fort  and  all 
its  contents  would  be  blown  away. 

"Breese,"  I  said  to  the  fleet-captain,  "I  hope  now  you  believe 
in  the  powder-boat.  Issue  an  order  for  all  the  vessels  to  be  ready 
to  sail  at  noon  to-morrow,  and  have  two  steamers  on  hand  to  tow 
the  powder-boat  down." 

I  then  visited  the  powder-boat,  and  never  saw  greater  enthusi 
asm.  Officers  were  hard  at  work  in  their  shirt-sleeves,  and  the 
"  Gomer  fuse,"  like  a  huge  tape-worm,  was  working  its  way  through 
piles  of  powder-bags.  Every  bag  had  a  piece  of  fuse  around  it,  so 
that  there  would  be  no  mistake  about  its  going  off. 

In  the  cabin  of  the  powder-boat  was  a  peculiar  clock  to  fire  the 
fuse  at  any  time  desired.  There  were  candles  that  would  burn  a 
given  number  of  minutes  and  then  explode,  and  there  were  hand- 
grenades  that  would  fall  at  a  given  time  and  set  the  vessel  on  fire. 

These  were  fine  contrivances  ;  but  I  ordered  half  a  cord  of  pine- 
knots  piled  up  in  the  cabin,  to  be  ignited  by  the  last  man  who  left 
the  ship,  and  this  was  what  finally  did  the  work. 

The  powder-boat  left  that  night,  and  next  day  at  noon  the  fleet, 
consisting  of  seventy-five  or  eighty  well-armed  vessels,  got  under 
way  from  Hampton  Roads,  the  flag-ship  Malvern  bringing  up  the 
rear. 

As  the  flag-ship  quitted  the  anchorage  the  transports  were 
sighted  with  the  troops  on  board. 

We  all  arrived  at  the  rendezvous  near  Fort  Fisher,  and  every 
one  was  enjoined  to  be  cautious. 

The  fleet  lay  some  ten  miles  off  shore,  but  the  commanding  offi 
cers  of  vessels  were  advised  not  to  have  too  much  steam  up  for  fear 
of  bursting  their  boilers  when  the  explosion  took  place.  One  cap 
tain  asked  if  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  send  down  top-gallant  masts 
and  yards,  and  brace  the  lower  yards  sharp  up.  I  told  him  "  No,"  for 
there  might  be  a  gun  or  two  left  in  the  works  after  the  explosion, 
and  he  would  need  his  sail  to  get  out  in  case  a  shot  should  perforate 
his  boilers. 

General  Butler's  transports  lay  at  New  Inlet,  some  distance  to 


272   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  northward,  but  I  supposed  he  would  soon  be  on  the  ground  to 
stand  by  and  charge  the  ruined  works  after  the  explosion. 

At  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  succeeding  our  arrival  the  powder- 
boat  was  towed  in  abreast  of  the  fort  and  anchored  near  the  shore, 
the  clock  was  started,  candles  lighted,  hand-grenades  fixed,  and  the 
wood-pile  ignited — not  a  soul  in  the  fort  aware  of  the  terrible  fate 
that  awaited  them.  In  ten  minutes  the  powder-boat  blew  up,  and 
the  ships  stood  in  to  the  attack.  Official  accounts  will  tell  the  rest. 

"  But  the  powder-boat  didn't,  like  that  on  the  Thames, 
Set  houses  and  barns  and  the  towns  all  in  flames; 
And  the  dogs  still  barked,  and  no  cats  were  afraid 
To  disturb  the  mild  night  with  their  sweet  serenade." 

The  night  the  powder-boat  was  exploded  a  boat  from  shore  came 
off  with  four  deserters  from  the  enemy.  I  asked  what  effect  the 
explosion  had  on  the  people  in  the  fort. 

"  It  was  dreadful,"  said  one  of  the  men  ;  "  it  woke  up  everybody 
in  Fort  Fisher  ! " 

But  I  do  believe,  notwithstanding,  that  the  explosion  had  its 
effect  on  the  enemy,  for  next  morning,  when  the  ships  attacked, 
the  Confederates  fought  as  if  they  meant  business,  and  the  powder- 
boat  waked  them  up  to  some  purpose. 

It  was  not  General  Butler's  fault  that  the  scheme  was  not  a  suc 
cess.  Something  was  wrong  in  the  powder,  or  it  could  not  all  have 
exploded  ;  for,  while  standing  on  the  deck  of  the  Malvern  the  morn 
ing  after  the  surrender  of  Fort  Fisher,  the  earth-works  seemed  to 
be  in  motion,  the  light  was  obscured  by  smoke  and  sand,  amid 
which  I  could  see  the  bodies  of  many  people  carried  up  in  the  air, 
and  I  heard  a  great  explosion  which  shook  the  earth.  Then  I 
learned  that  Fort  Fisher  had  blown  up  and  killed  a  number  of  our 
men — yet  only  four  tons  of  powder  exploded. 

This  would  indicate  that  the  conception  of  the  powder-boat  was 
a  good  one,  and,  if  it  could  only  have  been  got  near  enough  to  the 
fort  or  inside,  and  all  the  powder  exploded,  it  would  have  demol 
ished  the  works  and  their  occupants. 

I  shall  always  feel  under  the  greatest  obligations  to  the  powder- 
boat,  for,  although  it  failed  to  blow  up  Fort  Fisher,  it  did  what 
nothing  else  could  have  done — it  started  the  expedition  off.  Con 
sidering  all  things,  it  was  a  cheap  experiment  in  pyrotechnics,  for 
the  powder  cost  not  more  than  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  the  ves 
sel  was  absolutely  worthless. 


TRAP  FOR   BLOCKADE-RUNNERS.  273 

Had  she  not  gone  up  in  a  blaze  of  glory  she  might  to-day  have 
figured  on  the  navy-list  as  an  effective  vessel  of  war,  while  slowly 
decaying  at  her  berth  in  Rotten  Row  ! 

After  the  failure  to  capture  Fort  Fisher  I  wrote  to  General 
Grant,  "  Send  me  the  same  soldiers  with  another  general,  and  we 
will  have  the  fort."  So  the  soldiers  were  sent  under  command  of 
General  Terry,  and,  after  a  fight  that  did  credit  to  all  concerned, 
we  succeeded  on  January  15,  1865. 

Then  we  worked  our  way  up  the  Cape  Fear  River,  all  of  which 
has  been  duly  recorded  in  the  official  reports  of  the  day. 

After  Cape  Fear  River  was  in  our  possession  it  struck  me  that 
it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  set  a  trap  for  blockade-runners,  who 
could  not  have  heard  of  the  change  of  affairs,  and  I  put  the  inde 
fatigable  Lieutenant  Gushing  at  work  to  establish  decoy  signals  and 
range-lights,  and  this,  with  the  assistance  of  the  "  intelligent  con 
traband,"  who  was  always  on  hand,  Gushing  soon  accomplished. 

On  the  night  of  the  19th  of  January  two  long,  light-colored  ob 
jects  were  seen  moving  up  the  Cape  Fear  River,  and  in  a  few  mo 
ments  came  to  anchor  near  the  flag-ship.  These  were  the  Stag  and 
Charlotte,  two  blockade-running  steamers,  and  they  had  hardly  got 
their  anchors  down  before  our  boats  boarded  them  and  summoned 
them  to  surrender. 

The  officers  and  passengers  of  the  Charlotte  were  just  sitting 
down  to  an  elegant  supper,  in  honor  of  their  safe  arrival,  when  the 
boarding  officer  walked  into  the  cabin  and  announced  to  the  aston 
ished  company  that  they  were  prisoners. 

"  The  Yankees  have  got  us,  by  thunder  ! "  exclaimed  one  of  the 
revelers,  while  consternation  for  the  moment  reigned  round  the 
board. 

Among  the  passengers  were  several  distinguished  Englishmen, 
one  or  two  of  them  officers  of  the  British  army,  in  search  of  advent 
ures,  and  they  were  not  particularly  delighted  at  the  turn  affairs 
had  taken. 

The  captain  of  the  steamer  had  been  captured  before,  and  took 
his  present  mishap  as  a  matter  of  course  ;  but  one  of  his  passengers 
could  not  be  made  to  comprehend  how  one  of  her  Majesty's  mer 
chant  vessels  could  be  taken  possession  of  in  a  friendly  port  while 
peaceable  passengers  were  eating  their  supper. 

"Look  here,  sir,"  said  he  to  the  boarding  officer,  "aren't  you 
joking  ?  You  certainly  wouldn't  dare  to  interfere  with  one  of  her 
18 


274:  INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Majesty's  vessels  ;  the  Admiralty  would  quick  send  a  fleet  over  here 
and  dampen  you  fellows.  This  is  all  a  joke,  I  know  it  is,  and  I 
want  to  go  on  shore  at  once." 

"  You  have  very  singular  ideas  of  what  constitutes  a  joke,"  said 
the  boarding  officer.  "  I  don't  think  you  could  understand  one  un 
less  it  was  fired  at  you  out  of  a  thirty-two  pounder." 

"But,"  said  the  Englishman,  "how  can  you  fire  a  joke  out  of 
a  thirty-two  pounder  ?  " 

This  remark  "brought  down  the  house,"  and  the  captain  of  the 
blockade-runner  suggested  that  they  had  better  eat  supper  first  and 
discuss  the  joke  afterward. 

This  affair  turned  out  to  be  a  very  lucrative  night's  work,  as  the 
Stag  and  Charlotte  were  filled  with  all  kinds  of  valuable  goods,  in 
cluding  many  commissions  for  "ladies  of  the  court." 

In  the  cabin  of  one  vessel  was  a  pile  of  bandboxes,  in  which 
were  charming  little  bonnets  marked  with  the  owners'  names.  It 
would  have  given  me  much  pleasure  to  have  forwarded  them  to 
their  destination,  but  the  laws  forbade  our  giving  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  enemy,  so  all  the  French  bonnets,  cloaks,  shoes,  and  other 
feminine  Iric-a-brac  had  to  go  to  New  York  for  condemnation  by 
the  Admiralty  Court,  and  were  sold  at  public  auction. 

These  bonnets,  laces,  and  other  vanities  rather  clashed  with  the 
idea  I  had  formed  of  the  Southern  ladies,  as  I  had  heard  that  all 
they  owned  went  to  the  hospitals,  -and  that  they  never  spent  a  cent 
on  their  personal  adornment ;  but  human  nature  is  the  same  the 
world  over,  and  the  ladies  will  indulge  in  their  little  vanities  in 
spite  of  war  and  desolation. 

It  looked  queer  to  me  to  see  boxes  labeled  "  His  Excellency, 
Jefferson  Davis,  President  of  the  *  Confederate  States  of  America.' " 
The  packages  so  labeled  contained  Bass  ale  or  Cognac  brandy, 
which  cost  "His  Excellency"  less  than  we  Yankees  had  to  pay  for 
it.  Think  of  the  President  drinking  imported  liquors  while  his 
soldiers  were  living  on  pop-corn  and  water  ! 

I  had  supposed  that  blockade-runners  were  mainly  filled  with 
arms,  ammunition,  and  clothing  for  the  troops ;  but  the  Char 
lotte,  Stag,  and  Blenheim,  captured  by  us  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Cape  Fear  River,  were  not  entirely  laden  with  army  supplies.  The 
main  cargo  of  one  vessel  was  composed  of  articles  for  ladies'  use, 
and  all  three  were  plentifully  stocked  with  liquors  and  table  luxu 
ries. 

There  were  many  dreadful  sights  at  Fort  Fisher,  and  much  hard 


PROMPT  ACTION   OF  THE   ORDNANCE   BUREAU.      275 

work  to  engross  our  time  and  thoughts,  yet  there  were  ridiculous 
incidents  as  well. 

After  the  surrender  of  the  fort  all  the  smaller  vessels  of  the 
fleet  had  to  cross  the  bar  of  Cape  Fear  River,  where  at  most  there 
was  but  eleven  feet  of  water.  In  the  attempt  they  got  fast  in  the 
mud,  some  twenty  of  them  mixed  up  in  apparently  inextricable 
confusion,  but  in  a  few  hours  they  were  all  across  "the  rip"  and 
at  anchor  inside  Cape  Fear  River. 

Early  next  morning  (February  18,  1865)  an  attack  was  made 
on  Fort  Anderson,  a  well-built  star  fort  armed  with  nineteen  heavy 
guns  and  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river.  Like  their  other 
works,  Fort  Anderson  was  not  well  protected  in  the  rear.  The 
Confederates,  it  would  seem,  did  not  calculate  their  forts  would  be 
taken,  thinking  them  proof  against  an  enemy's  fire  and  not  antici 
pating  that  troops  would  ever  be  landed  in  their  rear.  If  such 
were  their  calculations,  the  enemy  were  grievously  disappointed. 

In  the  attack  on  Fort  Fisher  we  had  burst  nearly  all  the  Parrott 
guns  in  the  fleet ;  so  I  had  telegraphed  to  Captain  Wise,  chief  of 
the  Ordnance  Bureau,  to  send  me  twenty  eleven-inch  smooth 
bores,  shot  and  shell,  triangles  for  hoisting,  etc.,  and  in  four  days 
the  articles  arrived  in  a  fast  steamer  from  New  York,  which  shows 
how  promptly  the  Ordnance  Bureau  did  business  during  the  war. 
It  was  four  days  then  before  we  could  commence  operations  on 
Fort  Anderson. 

The  night  before  we  attacked  that  place  I  had  a  mock  monitor 
constructed  very  much  like  the  one  which  did  such  good  service 
on  the  Mississippi.  I  knew  that  the  enemy  had  the  channel 
planted  with  torpedoes,  and  piles  were  driven  in  such  a  manner  that 
vessels  would  have  to  pass  right  over  where  the  torpedoes  were 
sunk.  At  about  11  p.  M.  I  had  the  monitor  towed  up,  and  let  go 
within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  enemy's  works. 

.The  monitor  floated  with  the  flood-tide  to  within  a  short  dis 
tance  of  the  batteries,  when  the  enemy  opened  fire  with  heavy  guns 
and  musketry,  and  exploded  some  of  the  torpedoes,  all  of  which 
did  the  monster  no  harm,  and  she  finally  floated  off  toward  Wil 
mington,  not  troubling  herself  to  keep  in  the  channel,  but  cross 
ing  flats  where  there  were  only  a  few  inches  of  water  ! 

All  the  next  afternoon  the  monitor  Montauk  lay  close  in  to  the 
fort,  keeping  up  a  constant  fire,  while  we  mounted  our  eleven- 
inch  guns  ;  and  this  was  the  monitor  that  the  enemy  thought  had 
passed  by  in  the  previous  night. 


276   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Just  before  dark  that  evening  a  veracious  "contraband"  pad 
dled  alongside  the  Malvern  in  a  canoe  and  informed  me  that  the 
enemy  had  a  powerful  ram  and  torpedo-vessel  ready  to  come  down 
upon  us  after  dark  that  night. 

I  was  surprised  at  not  having  heard  of  this  ram  before,  but  I 
prepared  to  receive  her.  Every  vessel  was  to  keep  two  boats  ready, 
the  boats*  crews  armed  for  boarding,  and  each  boat  was  provided 
with  a  heavy  net  on  a  pole,  with  which  to  foul  the  torpedo-vessel's 
propeller. 

The  idea  was  for  the  boats  to  get  alongside,  cripple  the  enemy's 
propeller,  and  then  carry  the  vessel  by  boarding.  Two  picket-boats 
were  kept  about  six  hundred  yards  ahead  of  the  leading  vessel,  and 
a  strict  watch  was  kept  on  board  the  gun-boats ;  but  the  picket- 
boats  got  so  far  ahead  that  they  missed  what  they  were  watching 
for. 

The  Malvern  lay  in  the  middle  of  the  line.  I  had  no  idea  that 
any  torpedo-boat  would  trouble  us,  and  was  just  going  to  bed  when 
shouts  attracted  my  attention,  and  I  heard  orders  for  the  boats  to 
shove  off  from  several  vessels.  Then  came  pistol-shots  and  hurrahs 
enough  to  account  for  half  a  dozen  torpedo-boats. 

"Thank  fortune  !"  I  said  to  Captain  Breese,  "I  have  been 
looking  out  for  rams  and  torpedo-boats  for  the  last  three  years,  and 
have  never  yet  seen  one  ;  but  I  think  we'll  get  this  fellow  sure  if 
they  only  carry  out  my  orders." 

By  this  time  the  river  was  alive  with  boats  dashing  by  in  des 
perate  efforts  to  reach  the  scene  of  conflict,  and,  as  they  came  up 
with  the  enemy,  they  joined  in  with  loud  cheers.  "There  he 
goes  ! "  I  heard  them  shout.  "  Head  him  off  ! "  "  Here  he  comes  ! " 
"  Give  him  a  volley  ! "  This  shouting  and  firing  continued  for  sev 
eral  minutes,  and  I  wondered  why  they  did  not  board  the  enemy, 
saying  to  the  captain,  "  That  thing  will  get  a  crack  at  some  of  the 
vessels  above  us,  and  if  they  sink  one  it  will  block  the  game  on  us, 
for  there  is  only  room  for  one  vessel  to  go  along  at  a  time.  The 
channel  has  but  eleven  feet  of  water,  and  is  only  sixty  feet  wide. 
Why  don't  they  board,  as  I  ordered  them  to  do  ?  " 

Then  the  vessels  above  commenced  firing  howitzers  and  mus 
ketry.  "That  is  sheer  folly,"  I  said.  "They  will  never  capture 
the  thing  in  that  way.  That  vessel  is  probably  a  turtle-back,  with 
an  inch  thickness  of  iron.  He'll  sink  one  of  those  vessels  as  sure 
as  a  gun.  Jump  into  the  boat,  pull  up  there,  and  tell  them  to 
board  the  thing,  whatever  it  is,  at  all  hazards." 


"AN   IRISH   TORPEDO-BOAT."  277 

The  captain  shoved  off,  and  in  five  minutes  the  strange  vessel 
seemed  to  be  coming  down  on  us.  "  Look  out !  "  I  heard  them 
shout,  "Give  it  to  him!"  "Now's  your  chance  !"  Then  a  volley 
of  musketry  and  three  cheers. 

"  Here  he  comes  ! "  shouted  the  lookout  in  the  forecastle,  "  and 
all  the  boats  after  him,"  and,  sure  enough,  the  boats  were  all  pull 
ing  after  the  thing  and  making  a  great  clatter  as  they  laid  to  their 
oars. 

All  the  vessels  had  lanterns  over  the  side,  and  one  vessel  incau 
tiously  burned  a  "  Coston  signal/'  which  for  a  moment  made  every 
thing  as  light  as  day. 

To  my  great  relief  a  shout  arose,  "  We've  got  him  !  Tie  on  to 
him  !  Double-bank  him  with  boats  ! "  and  such  shouting  and 
cheering  as  only  sailors  can  accomplish. 

The  struggle  was  ended,  the  enemy  was  ours.  I  heard  an 
officer  give  the  order  to  "  take  the  enemy  in  tow  and  stop  their 
noise." 

I  thought  to  myself,  "I  must  issue  an  order  to-morrow  rebuk 
ing  the  officers  and  men  for  making  so  much  noise,"  and  when 
Captain  Breese  returned  alongside  I  tried  to  appear  indifferent. 

"Well,  sir,  we  got  him,"  said  the  captain. 

"  And  a  time  they  had  of  it.  Why  didn't  those  fellows  do  as  I 
told  them — jam  his  screw  with  the  nets  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  He  hadn't  any  screw,  sir,"  replied  the  captain. 

"  Then  what  had  he  ?  "  I  inquired. 

The  captain  laughed.  "It  was  something  worse  than  a  ram  ; 
it  was  the  biggest  lull  I  ever  saw.  He  was  swimming  across  the 
channel  when  he  was  first  espied.  I  don't  wonder  they  took  him 
for  a  torpedo-boat,  he  got  through  the  water  at  such  a  rate." 

"  A  bull ! "  I  exclaimed.  "  And  so  I  am  not  to  see  a  ram  after 
all.  Tell  them  to  keep  a  good  lookout,  notwithstanding  the  cap» 
ture  of  the  bull,"  and  I  laughed  heartily  at  this  absurd  episode— 
so  much  more  ridiculous  in  reality  than  even  in  the  narration. 

That  evening  General  Schofield,  who  had  assumed  command  of 
the  army  after  the  capture  of  Fort  Fisher,  had  landed  some  troops 
to  take  Fort  Anderson  in  the  rear,  and  at  eight  next  morning  (Feb 
ruary  18th)  I  attacked  Fort  Anderson  with  all  the  gun-boats,  which, 
with  their  newly  mounted  eleven-inch  guns,  soon  silenced  the  ene 
my's  guns,  and  the  Confederates  abandoned  the  work  and  fled,  to 
avoid  capture  by  our  troops  coming  up  in  their  rear. 

Off  we  went  again  on  our  way  up  river  till  at  a  point  where  the 


278   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

water  was  shoal.  Fort  Strong,  on  the  left  bank,  opened  on  us  and 
succeeded  in  boring  some  good  holes  in  our  vessels  ;  but,  with  the 
aid  of  our  eleven-inch  guns,  in  twenty  minutes  we  had  all  the  firing 
to  ourselves,  the  enemy  evacuating  the  fort,  on  which  we  hoisted 
our  flag.  An  hour  later  the  army  marched  into  Wilmington,  and 
we  were  masters  of  the  situation. 

I  reached  Wilmington  on  the  afternoon  of  February  22,  1865, 
soon  after  the  army  had  entered  the  city.  The  river-bank  was 
covered  with  negroes,  and,  as  soon  as  the  vessels  arrived,  a  salute 
was  fired  in  honor  of  the  day,  causing  the  darkies  to  suddenly  scat 
ter  in  all  directions,  under  the  impression  that  we  were  bombard 
ing  the  town. 

While  we  were  at  Fort  Strong  a  contraband  informed  us  that 
the  enemy  were  going  to  let  a  hundred  torpedoes  drift  down  upon 
us  at  night  and  blow  us  all  to  pieces  !  I  therefore  ordered  a  double 
line  of  fishing-nets  spread  across  the  river,  so  as  to  intercept  any 
visitors  of  this  sort.  It  was  a  bright  moonlight  night,  and,  al 
though  we  had  little  faith  in  the  negro's  story,  we  kept  a  good 
lookout  all  the  same. 

At  about  eight  o'clock  I  saw  a  barrel  drifting  down  the  river, 
and,  hailing  the  Shawmut,  directed  them  to  send  a  boat  and  see 
what  it  was.  Acting  Ensign  Trufant  was  in  command  of  the  boat, 
and,  pulling  close  to  the  barrel,  fired  his  pistol  into  it,  whereupon 
it  exploded,  dangerously  wounding  the  officer  and  killing  two  and 
wounding  several  of  the  crew. 

The  barrel  was  a  floating  torpedo  which  in  some  unaccountable 
manner  had  got  past  the  nets,  and  the  contraband's  information 
was  correct. 

A  short  time  afterward  a  torpedo  caught  in  the  Osceola's  wheel 
and  knocked  the  wheel-house  to  pieces,  knocked  down  some  of  her 
bulkheads,  and  disturbed  things  generally. 

The  torpedo-nets  intercepted  many  of  the  same  kind  of  devices, 
which  were  sunk  next  morning  by  firing  musketry  at  them  from  a 
safe  distance.  But  for  the  information  given  by  the  contraband 
which  led  to  the  precaution  of  setting  the  nets,  I  might  have  lost 
several  of  my  vessels  that  night. 

The  night  after  we  arrived  at  Wilmington  we  had  another  alarm. 
The  vessel  highest  up  the  river  opened  fire  on  something,  the  next 
one  took  it  up,  and  so  did  all  the  others  until  it  came  to  my  ves 
sel,  when  I  discovered  through  my  night-glass  a  large  steam  launch 
floating  down  stream.  She  was  towed  alongside,  and  it  proved  to 


AFFECTIONATE   GREETING  BY  MR.  STANTON.         279 

be  the  same  launch  in  which  I  had  sent  Gushing  to  blow  up  the 
Albemarle  a  few  weeks  previous. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  Albemarle  the  torpedo-vessel  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  was  sent  to  Cape  Fear  River  to 
operate  against  our  vessels ;  but  the  Confederates  were  not  lucky 
with  torpedo-boats,  so  she  again  fell  into  our  hands. 

The  events  occurring  on  the  Cape  Fear  River  and  about  Fort 
Fisher  and  Wilmington  would  make  an  interesting  book,  but  I  can 
spare  but  little  space  for  them  here.  I  will,  however,  mention  one 
incident  which  occurred  the  day  after  the  capture  of  Fort  Fisher. 

I  was  in  a  steam  launch  on  the  river,  directing  in  person  how  to 
get  over  the  bar,  when  I  saw  a  large  steamer  anchor  near  the  flag 
ship,  while  the  latter  fired  a  salute  of  fifteen  guns,  which  meant 
that  some  high  functionary  had  come  into  port.  I  soon  learned 
that  Mr.  Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  War,  had  arrived.  He  had 
been  to  Savannah  to  see  General  Sherman,  and  stopped  in  at  Fort 
Fisher,  not  knowing  it  had  fallen. 

I  immediately  went  on  board  to  see  Mr.  Stanton,  whom  I  found 
seated  at  the  head  of  the  dinner-table  with  a  napkin  under  his  chin. 
He  arose  and  put  his  arms  around  my  neck  and  kissed  me — im 
agine  such  a  thing  of  Mr.  Stanton  !  "I  love  you,"  he  said,  "the 
President  loves  you,  the  people  love  you,  for  you  have — "  but  I  re 
frain  from  stating  the  reason  assigned  by  Mr.  Stanton  for  the  deep 
affection  with  which  I  was  universally  regarded  ;  but  it  was  not  for 
my  part  in  the  capture  of  Fort  Fisher. 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you  ?  "  said  Mr.  Stanton.  "  Ask  anything, 
and  you  shall  have  it  if  it's  in  my  power  to  give  it." 

"Thank  you,"  I  said,  "I  want  nothing  for  myself,  but  you 
can  do  me  a  great  favor  by  promoting  General  Terry  on  the  spot. 
He  has  done  his  duty  like  a  good  soldier,  and  his  reward  should  not 
be  postponed." 

Mr.  Stanton  ordered  General  Terry  to  be  sent  for  immediately, 
and,  while  we  were  awaiting  his  arrival,  Mr.  Stanton  opened  his 
heart  to  me  on  a  subject  which,  as  it  was  strictly  confidential,  I 
forbear  to  repeat. 

When  General  Terry  came  on  board,  the  Secretary  of  War  re 
ceived  him  with  great  warmth,  and,  after  some  conversation,  retired 
with  his  private  secretary  into  the  after-cabin,  where  he  remained 
for  about  twenty  minutes. 

General  Terry  had  been  up  all  the  preceding  night,  and  was 
worn  out  with  fatigue  ;  and  his  brother,  who  accompanied  him  on 


280  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

board,  went  to  sleep  with  his  head  leaning  against  the  cabin-door, 
where  he  slept  and  snored  to  the  amusement  of  the  company. 

When  the  secretary  reappeared  he  presented  the  general  with 
an  official  document  containing  an  appointment  of  Major-General 
of  Volunteers,  and  then  shook  the  general's  brother  by  the  shoulder. 
"Wake  up,  young  man,"  he  said  ;  "  here's  something  for  you." 

Young  Terry  opened  his  eyes  and  stammered  an  apology  for 
falling  asleep  in  the  presence  of  such  high  functionaries,  but,  when 
he  looked  at  the  paper  given  him  by  Mr.  Stanton,  he  rubbed  his 
eyes  as  if  he  thought  himself  dreaming.  "  By  Jove,"  he  said,  "I 
went  to  sleep  a  captain  and  woke  up  a  major."  I  think  General 
Terry  and  his  brother  were  two  as  contented  men  as  I  had  seen  for 
some  time. 

Mr.  Stanton  was  a  much-abused  man,  yet  when  he  did  anything 
to  reward  an  officer  he  did  it  gracefully  and  liberally — unlike  the 
head  of  the  Navy  Department,  who,  so  far  from  thanking  me  for 
my  efforts  at  Fort  Fisher,  wrote  me  a  rude  letter  because  I  had 
given  the  five  oldest  officers  of  the  squadron  commendatory  letters 
when  we  parted  after  the  capture  of  the  fort. 

General  Terry  took  no  horses  with  him  to  Fort  Fisher.  He  was 
lame  at  the  time,  and  could  not  sit  on  a  horse.  I  accordingly  sent 
an  officer  to  Smithville  to  procure  me  a  horse  and  buggy — the  best 
he  could  find.  The  officer  departed  at  once  in  a  double-banked 
boat,  and,  on  arriving  at  the  little  town,  found  a  doctor's  horse 
and  gig  standing  in  front  of  that  gentleman's  house.  The  officer 
jumped  into  the  buggy  and  drove  off — not  a  very  polite  thing  to 
do,  but  it  was  a  case  of  military  necessity — and,  getting  horse  and 
buggy  into  the  boat,  brought  them  both  down  to  me.  There 
chanced  to  be  nobody  around  at  the  time,  as  the  town  was  nearly 
deserted,  so  no  one  witnessed  the  abstraction  of  the  doctor's  equi 
page  ;  but  when  the  unfortunate  physician  came  out  of  the  house 
he  couldn't  understand  what  had  become  of  his  horse  and  buggy. 
He  could  not  suppose  that  the  reliable  animal  had  run  away,  and 
no  one  around  there  would  have  stolen  him,  so  for  some  time  the 
doctor  was  in  a  high  state  of  excitement. 

General  Terry  was  much  pleased  with  the  horse,  and  could  have 
been  seen  early  and  late  traveling  around  in  the  doctor's  gig,  attend 
ing  to  military  matters,  for  Terry  had  no  liking  for  fuss  and  feath 
ers,  and  cared  little  for  outward  appearances  so  long  as  he  was 
comfortable. 

When  we  were  done  with  the  horse  and  buggy  they  were  sent 


THE   PRESIDENT  VISITS   CITY  POINT.  281 

back  one  morning  before  daylight,  and  when  the  owner  arose  from 
his  slumbers  he  found  the  faithful  steed  standing  patiently  at  the 
door  with  a  good  supply  of  oats  in  the  vehicle. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  PRESIDENT  VISITS  CITY  POINT — BECOMES  A  GUEST  ON"  THE 
MALVERN — ANXIETY  TO  HAVE  THE  ARMY  MOVE  ON  THE  ENE 
MY'S  WORKS — TWO  MIRACLES — EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG — 
THREE  LITTLE  KITTENS — PRESIDENT  REFUSES  TO  SEE  VICE- 
PRESIDENT  JOHNSON  AND  PRESTON  KING — HOW  MUCH  WILL 
YOU  TAKE  FOR  THAT  TRICK  ?— VISIT  TO  PETERSBURG— THREE 
CHEERS  FOR  UNCLE  ABE — CAN'T  WE  MAKE  A  NOISE  ? — FOUR 
CONFEDERATE  IRONCLADS  BLOWN  UP — THE  PRESIDENT  VISITS 
RICHMOND— AN  OVATION  WORTHY  OF  AN  EMPEROR— A  NEGRO 
PATRIARCH — ENTRANCE  INTO  RICHMOND — A  BOUQUET  OF  FLOW 
ERS  FROM  A  PRETTY  GIRL— PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  IN  PRESI 
DENT  DAVIS'S  MANSION — RETURN  ON  BOARD  THE  MALVERN — 
A  VISIT  FROM  THE  LATE  JUSTICE  CAMPBELL — A  VISIT  FROM 
DUFF  GREEN — COMPLICATIONS — RETURN  TO  CITY  POINT — A 
GENERAL  WHO  WENT  OFF  IN  A  FIZZLE. 

IN  the  latter  part  of  March,  1865,  the  President  came  down  to 
City  Point,  with  some  members  of  his  family,  in  a  large  steamer 
called  the  River  Queen.  He  came,  in  the  first  place,  for  rest ;  he 
looked  much  worn  out  with  his  responsibilities  since  I  had  last  seen 
him,  and  needed  the  repose  he  sought.  He  was  also  very  much  in 
terested  that  the  army  should  move  upon  the  enemy,  and,  though 
I  am  quite  sure  that  he  had  the  most  unbounded  confidence  in 
General  Grant  and  his  judgment,  yet  I  am  of  opinion  that  he  con 
sidered  himself  a  good  judge  of  the  time  when  operations  should 
commence. 

The  Army  of  the  James  was  to  have  moved  some  days  sooner 
than  it  did,  but  it  came  on  to  rain,  and  with  such  effect  upon  the 
ground  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  troops  to  move  at  all. 

Infantry,  of  course,  can  always  move,  but  it  would  have  been 
an  impossibility  to  move  baggage  and  artillery. 

At  this  moment  it  was  desirable  that  no  mistakes  should  be 


282   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

made,  and  that  the  army  should  not  move  a  day  sooner  than  was 
necessary.  Every  day  was  improving  our  condition  and  making 
that  of  the  Confederacy  worse.  All  the  ports  along  the  coast  had 
been  captured ;  blockade-running  was  at  an  end,  and  the  Con 
federates  could  no  longer  depend  upon  the  sea  for  supplies.  What 
they  did  obtain  at  that  time  was  from  their  own  resources,  and 
these  were  very  small  indeed.  How  they  ever  managed  to  main 
tain  their  armies  was  a  mystery  to  me,  and  must  have  astonished 
the  military  men  of  our  side  who  had  splendid  commissariats  to 
draw  from. 

General  Grant  most  likely  knew  to  a  day  when  the  enemy's 
provisions  would  give  out,  and  when  they  would  ask  to  surrender  ; 
he  was  preparing  to  move  when  President  Lincoln  came  down. 

The  President  was  evidently  nervous  ;  the  enormous  expense  of 
the  war  seemed  to  weigh  upon  him  like  an  incubus  ;  he  could  not 
keep  away  from  General  Grant's  tent,  and  was  constantly  inquiring 
when  he  was  going  to  move ;  though,  if  he  had  looked  at  the 
wagons,  stuck  fast  in  the  thick  red  mud  of  the  surrounding 
country,  he  would  have  known  why  no  army  could  operate. 

I  attached  myself  to  the  President  at  his  own  request,  and  did 
all  I  could  to  interest  him  by  taking  him  up  and  down  the  river  in 
my  barge,  or  driving  about  the  country  in  General  Ingals's  buggy 
with  two  fine  horses.  I  saw  that,  without  being  aware  of  it,  he 
was  pushing  General  Grant  to  move  more  than  circumstances  justi 
fied,  and  I  did  all  I  could  to  withdraw  his  attention  from  the  sub 
ject. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  a  wonderful  faculty  for  understanding  the 
topography  of  a  country,  and  he  was  quite  familiar  with  the  one  in 
which  the  army  was  about  to  operate  ;  he  carried  a  small  chart  in 
his  pocket,  on  which  were  marked  all  the  rivers  and  hills  about 
Richmond,  with  the  city  itself,  and  the  different  points  where 
General  Lee  had  his  forces  posted,  the  lines  of  defense,  and,  in 
fact,  all  the  information  that  a  general  of  an  army  wanted. 

During  our  rides — which  were  always  within  the  lines — he 
would  stop  and  spread  out  his  chart  on  his  knees  and  point  out  to 
me  what  he  would  do  if  he  were  the  general  commanding,  taking 
good  care,  at  the  same  time,  never  to  interfere  in  any  way  with 
General  Grant,  whom,  I  rather  think,  he  considered  the  better 
strategist  of  the  two. 

I  had  often  heard  of  the  wonderful  power  of  the  President  in 
telling  anecdotes,  but  no  one  could  form  an  adequate  idea  of  his 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  PRESIDENT   LINCOLN.          283 

ability  in  this  line  unless  he  had  been  alone  with  him  for  ten  days 
as  I  was.  He  had  an  illustration  for  everything,  and  if  anything 
particular  attracted  his  attention,  he  would  say,  "That  reminds 
me  of  something  that  occurred  when  I  was  a  lawyer  in  Illinois,"  or, 
"when  I  was  a  boatman  on  the  Mississippi."  He  was  not  at  all 
ashamed  of  any  business  he  had  ever  been  engaged  in,  because  it 
was  honest  business,  and  he  made  an  honest  living  by  it ;  and  he 
told  me  many  stories  of  his  earlier  life,  which  were  as  creditable  to 
him  as  anything  he  was  engaged  in  while  occupying  a  higher 
sphere. 

Mr.  Lincoln  seemed  to  me  to  be  familiar  with  the  name,  char 
acter,  and  reputation  of  every  officer  of  rank  in  the  army  and  navy, 
and  appeared  to  understand  them  better  than  some  whose  business 
it  was  to  do  so  ;  he  had  many  a  good  story  to  tell  of  nearly  all,  and 
if  he  could  have  lived  to  write  the  anecdotes  of  the  war,  I  am  sure 
he  would  have  furnished  the  most  readable  book  of  the  century. 

To  me  he  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  men  I  ever  met ;  he 
had  an  originality  about  him  which  was  peculiarly  his  own,  and 
one  felt,  when  with  him,  as  if  he  could  confide  his  dearest  secret  to 
him  with  absolute  security  against  its  betrayal.  There,  it  might  be 
said,  was  "  God's  noblest  work — an  honest  man,"  and  such  he  was, 
all  through.  I  have  not  a  particle  of  the  bump  of  veneration  on 
my  head,  but  I  saw  more  to  admire  in  this  man,  more  to  reverence, 
than  I  had  believed  possible  ;  he  had  a  load  to  bear  that  few  men 
could  carry,  yet  he  traveled  on  with  it,  foot-sore  and  weary,  but 
without  complaint ;  rather,  on  the  contrary,  cheering  those  who 
would  faint  on  the  roadside.  He  was  not  a  demonstrative  man,  so 
no  one  will  ever  know,  amid  all  the  trials  he  underwent,  how  much 
he  had  to  contend  with,  and  how  often  he  was  called  upon  to  sacri 
fice  his  own  opinions  to  those  of  others,  who,  he  felt,  did  not  know 
as  much  about  matters  at  issue  as  he  did  himself.  When  he  did 
surrender,  it  was  always  with  a  pleasant  manner,  winding  up  with 
a  characteristic  story. 

In  the  strife  between  the  North  and  the  South  there  was  no 
bitterness  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  composition  ;  he  seemed  to  think  only 
that  he  had  an  unpleasant  duty  to  perform,  and  endeavored  to  per 
form  it  as  smoothly  as  possible.  He  would,  without  doubt,  have 
yielded  a  good  deal  to  the  South,  only  that  he  kept  his  duty  con 
stantly  before  his  eyes,  and  that  was  the  compass  by  which  he 
steered  at  all  times.  The  results  of  a  battle  pained  him  as  much  as 
if  he  was  receiving  the  wounds  himself,  for  I  have  often  heard  him 


284:  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

express  himself  in.  pained  accents  while  talking  over  some  of  the 
scenes  of  the  war ;  he  was  not  the  man  to  assume  a  character  for 
feelings  he  did  not  possess  ;  he  was  as  guileless  in  some  respects  as 
a  child.  How  could  one  avoid  liking  such  a  man  ? 

The  vessel  he  came  up  in — the  Eiver  Queen — went  off  to  Nor 
folk  a  day  or  two  after  his  arrival  at  City  Point,  and  I  invited  him, 
or  rather  he  invited  himself,  to  stay  with  me  on  board  the  flag-ship 
Malvern,  which  was  a  small  vessel  with  poor  accommodations,  and 
not  at  all  fitted  to  receive  high  personages.  She  was  a  captured 
blockade-runner,  and  had  been  given  to  me  as  a  flag-ship.  I  re 
tained  her  because  she  was  small  and  drew  but  little  water,  and  I 
could  run  about  in  her  night  and  day,  enter  shoal  harbors  and 
inlets,  and  altogether  she  suited  me. 

I  had  only  one  large  state-room  in  the  cabin,  one  small  after 
cabin  that  would  hold  a  sofa  and  four  chairs,  and  a  small  forward 
cabin  that  would  dine  ten.  I  could  not  "  sling  a  cat  around  by 
the  tail,"  but  then  I  did  not  want  to  do  that,  so  the  arrangements 
were  to  my  taste.  It  was  in  this  unpretentious  place  that  I  in 
vited  the  President  to  accept  my  hospitality,  and  he  accepted  it 
with  as  little  formality  as  if  it  was  his  own  home  he  was  going  into. 
What  pleased  him  was  that  he  got  away  from  the  outer  world ;  no 
one  could  get  at  him  but  those  whom  he  desired  to  see ;  no  one 
could  intrude  upon  his  privacy,  and  he  slept  with  every  guard 
about  him — so  far  as  his  personal  safety  was  concerned — that  he 
could  desire. 

What  he  liked  best  of  all  was  that  no  one  could  ask  him  for  an 
office. 

I  offered  the  President  my  bed,  but  he  positively  declined  it, 
and  elected  to  sleep  in  a  small  state-room  outside  of  the  cabin, 
occupied  by  my  secretary.  It  was  the  smallest  kind  of  a  room,  six 
feet  long  by  four  and  a  half  feet  wide — a  small  room  for  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  to  be  domesticated  in,  but  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  pleased  with  it.  He  told  me,  at  parting,  that  the  few  days  he 
had  spent  on  board  the  Malvern  were  among  the  pleasantest  in  his 
life. 

When  the  President  retired  for  his  first  night  on  board,  he  put 
his  shoes  and  socks  outside  the  state-room  door.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
the  President's  socks  had  holes  in  them  ;  but  they  were  washed  and 
darned,  his  boots  cleaned,  and  the  whole  placed  at  his  door. 

When  he  came  to  breakfast  he  remarked  : 

"A  miracle  happened  to  me  last  night.     When  I  went  to  bed  I 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN   ON  BOARD  THE   MALVERN.    285 

had  two  large  holes  in  my  socks,  and  this  morning  there  are  no 
holes  in  them.  That  never  happened  to  me  before  ;  it  must  be  a 
miracle  ! " 

"How  did  you  sleep  ?"  I  inquired. 

"I  slept  well,"  he  answered,  "but  you  can't  put  a  long  blade 
into  a  short  scabbard.  I  was  too  long  for  that  berth."  Then  I 
remembered  he  was  over  six  feet  four  inches,  while  the  berth  was 
only  six  feet. 

That  day,  while  we  were  out  of  the  ship,  all  the  carpenters  were 
put  to  work ;  the  state-room  was  taken  down  and  increased  in  size 
to  eight  feet  by  six  and  a  half  feet.  The  mattress  was  widened  to 
suit  a  berth  of  four  feet  width,  and  the  entire  state-room  remod 
eled. 

Nothing  was  said  to  the  President  about  the  change  in  his  quar 
ters  when  he  went  to  bed,  but  next  morning  he  came  out  smiling, 
and  said:  "A  greater  miracle  than  ever  happened  last  night;  I 
shrank  six  inches  in  length  and  about  a  foot  sideways.  I  got 
somebody  else's  big  pillow,  and  slept  in  a  better  bed  than  I  did  on 
the  River  Queen,  though  not  half  as  lively."  He  enjoyed  it 
hugely,  but  I  do  think  if  I  had  given  him  two  fence-rails  to  sleep 
on  he  would  not  have  found  fault.  That  was  Abraham  Lincoln  in 
all  things  relating  to  his  own  comfort.  He  would  never  permit 
people  to  put  themselves  out  for  him  under  any  circumstances. 

That  day  I  handed  him  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Seward,  reading, 
"  Shall  I  come  down  and  join  you  ?" 

"No,"  he  said,  "I  don't  want  him.  Telegraph  him  that  the 
berths  are  too  small,  and  there's  not  room  for  another  passenger.'' 

"  But,"  I  said,  "  I  can  provide  for  him  if  you  desire  his  presence." 

"  Tell  him,  then,  I  don't  want  him  ;  he'd  talk  to  me  all  day 
about  Vattel  and  Puffendorf.  The  war  will  be  over  in  a  week,  and 
I  don't  want  to  hear  any  more  of  that."  So  Mr.  Seward  did  not 
come.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  determined  that  none  of  his  Cabinet 
should  come  down  to  City  Point,  where  he  intended  to  propose  the 
terms  of  surrender  himself.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  that  this 
fraternal  strife  should  cease  in  one  way  or  another.  I  don't  know 
what  his  conversations  with  General  Grant  were,  but,  from  the 
tenor  of  his  conversations  with  me,  I  know  that  he  was  determined 
the  Confederacy  should  have  the  most  liberal  terms.  "  Get  them 
to  plowing  once,"  he  said,  "and  gathering  in  their  own  little  crops, 
eating  pop-corn  at  their  own  firesides,  and  you  can't  get  them  to 
shoulder  a  musket  again  for  half  a  century. " 


286   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

He  did  not  want  any  of  his  Cabinet  down  there  to  contest  the 
views  he  had  formed  in  regard  to  this  matter,  nor  to  try  to  turn 
him  from  his  plans. 

I  think  General  Grant  started  his  army  off  four  days  sooner 
than  he  would  have  done  had  not  the  President  been  so  anxious  to 
bring  the  war  to  a  conclusion,  for  that  was  what  moving  meant. 
Any  one  who  knew  anything  about  the  war  knew  that  when  our 
army  approached  Petersburg  or  Richmond,  at  that  time,  it  meant 
the  surrender  or  annihilation  of  the  Southern  army.  They  had 
nothing  left  to  fight  on,  and  though  they  might  have  made  a  des 
perate  defense,  yet  the  men  who  led  them  to  battle  would  have 
been  simply  committing  murder. 

When  our  army  did  get  some  twenty  miles  away  from  City 
Point  the  artillery  stuck  fast  in  the  thick  red  soil,  and  General 
Meade  told  me  afterward  that  it  sometimes  took  eight  horses  to 
haul  a  field-piece  clear  of  the  mud.  It  would  have  been  a  bad  thing 
to  be  caught  in  that  way. 

As  the  army  advanced,  a  telegraph-wire  was  laid  out  and  a  tele 
graph-office  established  under  the  direction  of  Colonel  Bowers,  who 
collected  all  the  dispatches.  The  President  used  to  sit  there  nearly 
all  day  receiving  telegrams,  and  I  sat  therewith  him.  "Here," 
he  said  once,  taking  out  his  little  chart,  "they  are  at  this  point, 
and  Sheridan  is  just  starting  off  up  this  road.  That  will  bring 
about  a  crisis." 

"Now  let  us  go  to  dinner  ;  Fd  like  to  peck  a  little." 

Then  we  came  back  and  received  the  news  of  the  evacuation  of 
Petersburg.  "We  will  go  there  to-morrow,"  he  said. 

There  were  three  little  kittens  running  about  the  hut  in  which 
the  telegraph-office  was  situated.  Mr.  Lincoln  picked  them  all  up 
and  put  them  on  his  little  chart  on  the  table.  This  was  a  step 
from  the  sublime,  it  is  true,  but  it  showed  the  feelings  of  the  man 
at  a  moment  when  the  fate  of  a  nation  was  hanging  in  the  scales. 
He  could  find  time  to  look  at  God's  creatures  and  be  solicitous  for 
their  comfort. 

"There,"  he  said,  "you  poor,  little,  miserable  creatures,  what 
brought  you  into  this  camp  of  warriors  ?  Where  is  your  mother  ?  " 

"The  mother  is  dead,"  said  the  colonel. 

"Then  she  can't  grieve  for  them  as  many  a  poor  mother  is 
grieving  for  the  sons  who  have  fallen  in  battle,  and  who  will  still 
grieve  if  this  surrender  does  not  take  place  without  bloodshed.  Ah, 
kitties,  thank  God  you  are  cats,  and  can't  understand  this  terrible 


THE  PRESIDENT  DECLINES  TO  RECEIVE  SOME  VISITORS.  287 

strife  that  is  going  on.  There,  now,  go,  my  little  friends,"  he  con 
tinued,  wiping  the  dirt  from  their  eyes  with  his  handkerchief; 
"that  is  all  I  can  do  for  you.  Colonel,  get  them  some  milk,  and 
don't  let  them  starve  ;  there  is  too  much  starvation  going  on  in  this 
land  anyhow  ;  mitigate  it  when  we  can." 

Just  then  a  midshipman  came  up  to  the  door  of  the  hut  with  a 
message  for  me  from  Commodore  Kadford.  He  informed  me  that 
Vice-President  Johnson  and  Preston  King  were  on  board  the  Mal- 
vern,  and  wished  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  President. 

I  never  saw  such  a  change  in  any  one  in  my  life  as  took  place 
in  Mr.  Lincoln  at  this  announcement.  He  jumped  up  from  the 
chair  where  he  had  been  playing  with  the  kittens  and  rushed  to 
the  door  where  the  young  officer  was  delivering  his  message.  The 
President  was  greatly  excited,  and  the  habitual  benevolent  expres 
sion  had  left  his  face ;  he  was  almost  frantic.  "Don't  let  those 
men  come  into  my  presence,"  he  said.  "I  won't  see  either  of 
them ;  send  them  away.  They  have  no  business  here,  any  way ; 
no  right  to  come  down  here  without  my  permission.  I  won't  see 
them  now,  and  never  want  to  lay  eyes  on  them.  I  don't  care  what 
you  do  with  them,  nor  where  you  send  them,  but  don't  let  them 
come  near  me  !  "  and  he  sat  down  in  his  chair  looking  like  a  man 
it  would  be  dangerous  for  any  one  to  anger. 

"  Certainly,  Mr.  President,"  I  said,  "  your  wishes  shall  be  at 
tended  to.  I  will  see  that  you  never  meet  either  of  these  gentle 
men." 

I  told  the  midshipman  to  go  back  to  Commodore  Eadford  and 
tell  him  "  the  President  could  receive  no  one  to-day  nor  to-mor 
row  " ;  to  go  on  board  my  ship  and  get  all  the  champagne  and 
cigars  and  other  liquors,  and  entertain  the  two  gentlemen  on  board 
the  Phlox  (Radford's  dispatch-boat),  and  take  them  where  he 
pleased,  but  under  no  circumstances  to  let  them  come  in  the  Presi 
dent's  way.  Mr.  Lincoln  heard  all  the  message,  and  when  I  went 
into  the  hut  again  he  was  sitting  there  as  composed  as  if  nothing 
had  occurred  to  disturb  his  equanimity,  while  the  usual  benevolent 
expression  shone  on  his  face  as  before. 

He  never  referred  to  those  two  gentlemen  again,  and  I  never 
knew,  nor  could  I  imagine,  why  he  was  disturbed  at  the  announce 
ment  of  their  names. 

I  have  my  own  impressions  on  the  subject,  but  don't  care  to  put 
them  on  paper. 

Commodore  Radford  did  as  I  requested ;  took  them  off  some- 


288    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

where  and  entertained  them.  He  made  a  strong  friend  of  Mr. 
Johnson,  who  looked  after  his  interests  while  he  was  in  the  White 
House,  and  I,  without  intending  it,  made  a  strong  enemy,  with 
whom,  however,  I  made  it  a  rule  never  to  come  in  contact. 

The  day  after  this  occurrence  Mr.  Lincoln  received  a  message 
from  General  Grant  informing  him  that  a  railway-car  would  be 
ready  for  him  at  City  Point,  that  he  could  come  out  on  the  rail 
road  which  ran  within  a  few  miles  of  Petersburg,  and  that  he  would 
find  horses  at  the  nearest  point  to  take  him  to  the  city. 

In  consequence,  we  prepared  to  start  at  the  appointed  time. 
The  President  got  into  the  car  of  which  I  was  the  only  other  occu 
pant,  seated  himself,  and,  as  he  never  lost  any  time,  proceeded  to 
read  his  newspapers. 

There  was  no  assembling  of  crowds  in  those  days  to  witness  the 
going  or  coming  of  a  President ;  people  had  too  much  to  do.  Time 
was  money,  and  those  found  loitering  had  their  pay  docked  ;  so  we 
passed  along  unnoticed. 

I  wore  a  naval  cap  which  had  been  copied  from  those  worn  by 
railroad  conductors,  and  a  blue  flannel  short  sack  with  four  small 
navy-buttons  on  it.  I  might  easily  have  been  mistaken  for  a  con 
ductor. 

I  was  standing  on  the  front  of  the  car,  having  locked  the  rear 
door  to  prevent  any  one  from  intruding  upon  the  President.  We 
expected  the  locomotive  every  minute.  Three  men  came  up  to  the 
car;  they  were  nicely  enough  dressed — had  even  white  cravats, 
which  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  were  either  divines  or  theo 
logical  students,  but  I  could  tell  at  a  glance  that  they  were  neither 
of  these  ;  they  had  not  a  clerical  look  aside  from  their  neck- wear, 
and,  to  save  my  life,  I  could  not  have  placed  them.  They  were 
impudent  enough  to  be  anything. 

One  of  them  spoke.  "Conductor,"  he  said  to  me,  "is  that  the 
President?" 

"Yes,"  I  answered,  "it  is." 

"  We  want  to  see  him,"  said  the  other. 

"  Can't  do  it,"  I  replied. 

"  Who  will  prevent  us  ?  "  said  the  first. 

"  I  will ;  the  President  won't  see  any  one." 

"  He  will  see  us,"  was  the  retort,  "  and  see  him  we  must." 

"It  can  not  be  done,"  I  said  ;  "the  President  can  not  be  in 
truded  upon." 

"We  will  see  for  ourselves,"  said  the  stranger.     "You  don't 


INTRUDERS   WARDED   OFF.  289 

know.  Have  you  any  orders  to  prevent  persons  from  approaching 
the  President  ?  " 

"No,"  I  said,  "none.     I  do  it  on  my  own  responsibility." 

"  Then,  in  that  case,  you  have  taken  a  responsibility  quite  un 
authorized,  and  we  will  call." 

With  that  two  of  them  came  up  on  the  platform.  I  merely 
closed  the  car-door,  and  put  my  hand  on  the  door-knob. 

"Will  you  let  us  pass  ?"  said  one  of  the  white  neck-ties. 

"You  can  pass  on  over  the  platform,"  I  said,  "but  nowhere 
else  ;  you  can't  pass  through  this  door." 

"  Who  will  stop  us  ?  "  queried  the  white  ties. 

"  I  will,  if  possible,"  I  answered. 

At  that  they  all  laughed  ;  they  were  well-made  fellows,  and,  be 
ing  quite  conscious  they  could  master  me,  they  became  very  inso 
lent. 

All  this  time  the  President  was  apparently  reading  his  news 
paper,  but  in  reality  looking  over  the  top  of  it,  very  much  amused 
at  the  controversy  going  on  between  me  and  the  white  ties.  He 
said  afterward  that  he  would  have  come  to  my  assistance  and 
ordered  them  away,  only  he  thought  I  could  manage  to  get  rid  of 
them. 

The  two  men  on  the  platform,  having  expended  all  their  elo 
quence  on  me,  and  finding  me  decidedly  opposed  to  their  entry, 
proceeded  to  extremities.  One  put  his  hand  on  mine  to  remove  it 
from  the  knob,  and  the  other  took  me  by  the  shoulder. 

Quick  as  thought  both  the  white  ties  were  sprawling  in  the 
mud — one  at  each  side  of  the  car — and  they  were  invited  up  to  try 
it  again,  with  the  information  that  the  next  time  they  ventured 
upon  the  car  they  would  get  a  pistol-ball  through  them. 

I  had  no  pistol ;  I  only  told  them  so  for  effect. 

They  were  very  angry  at  their  unceremonious  removal,  but  did 
not  care  to  attack  the  citadel  again.  The  engine  had  now  arrived 
and  hitched  on,  and  off  we  went  on  our  way.  But  what  a  careless 
thing  it  was  to  be  going  about  with  the  President  without  a  guard 
to  protect  him  !  I  never  thought  of  any  danger  to  him  at  the  time. 
Our  people  were  not  given  to  assassination,  and  if  any  one  had  told 
me  that  the  President  stood  in  danger  of  his  life,  I  would  have 
laughed  at  him. 

There  were  no  guards  to  be  obtained  at  City  Point ;  every  sol 
dier  had  gone  with  the  army.  I  might  have  brought  some  marines, 
but,  conn  dent  in  my  own  ability  to  keep  off  loafers,  I  neglected 
19 


290    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

to  take  any  cautionary  measures,  and  I  only  wonder  that  the  catas 
trophe  which  finally  took  place  did  not  occur  while  the  President 
was  at  City  Point — there  were  so  many  opportunities. 

Mr.  Lincoln  laughed  heartily  when  he  saw  the  two  white  ties 
lying  in  the  mud,  .and  wanted  to  know  "  how  much  I  would  sell 
that  trick  for.  I  intend,"  he  continued,  "  never  to  travel  again 
unless  you  go  along." 

We  arrived  at  Petersburg  Landing,  and  found  Lieutenant 
Eobert  Lincoln — the  President's  son — there  with  horses  for  the 
President  and  his  son  "Tad,"  but  none  for  me.  The  escort  was 
not  a  very  large  one,  consisting  only  of  the  lieutenant,  a  sergeant, 
and  three  or  four  troopers  ;  it  was  all  in  keeping  with  the  Presi 
dent's  retinue  since  he  first  started  on  this  expedition,  but  it  never 
seemed  to  strike  him  as  wanting  in  any  way. 

He  was  much  amused  all  the  time,  and  particularly  so  when  I 
got  one  of  the  soldiers  to  dismount  and  let  me  have  his  raw-boned 
white  horse,  a  hard  trotter,  and  a  terrible  stumbler.  How  the 
Government  became  possessed  of  such  an  animal  the  Lord  only 
knows. 

I  won't  pretend  to  describe  my  adventures  on  that  horse,  and 
the  number  of  times  he  ran  away  with  me — the  only  way  by  which 
I  could  keep  up  with  the  President,  who  was  splendidly  mounted 
— but  we  finally  reached  Petersburg  in  safety,  and  were  received  at 
headquarters. 

I  had  no  sooner  arrived  than  I  inquired  of  Lieutenant  Dunn, 
one  of  Grant's  staff,  if  I  could  buy  the  horse  upon  which  I  had  rid 
den.  He  said  he  thought  I  could,  and  would  see  the  quartermaster 
about  it ;  but  the  President,  who  heard  our  conversation,  put  in  a 
protest. 

"  Why  in  the  name  of  all  that's  good  do  you  want  that  horse, 
Admiral  ?"  exclaimed  the  President.  "Just  look  at  him  first ;  his 
head  is  as  big  as  a  flour-barrel ! " 

"  That's  the  case  with  all  horses'  heads,"  I  said. 

"  Well,  look  at  his  knees  ;  they're  sprung.  He's  fourteen  years 
old  if  he's  a  day  ;  his  hoofs  will  cover  half  an  acre.  He's  spavined, 
and  only  has  one  eye.  What  do  you  want  with  him  ?  You  sailors 
don't  know  anything  about  a  horse.  Get  some  of  these  soldier 
fellows  to  pick  you  out  a  beast  and  you  will  get  a  good  one.  Don't 
you  let  him  buy  that  horse,  Mr.  Dunn  ;  get  him  a  good  one." 

"But  I  want  it  for  a  particular  purpose,"  I  said  ;  "I  want  to 
buy  it  and  shoot  it,  so  that  no  one  else  will  ever  ride  it  again." 


"THREE   CHEERS  FOR  UNCLE  ABE."  291 

That  pleased  the  President  mightily ;  he  said  it  was  the  best 
reason  he  had  ever  heard  for  buying  a  horse. 

We  spent  a  most  agreeable  day  at  Petersburg.  The  streets  were 
alive  with  negroes,  who  were  crazy  to  see  their  savior,  as  they 
called  the  President ;  and  it  was  found  necessary  at  last  to  eject 
them  from  the  doorways  vi  et  armis. 

The  tobacco-stores  were  all  open,  and  every  one  seemed  to  be 
helping  himself  to  the  delicious  weed.  It  was  mostly  put  up  in 
small  bales  of  three  pounds  each.  Some  one  presented  me  with 
four  packages,  and  I  tied  them  upon  the  saddle  of  my  horse,  which 
I  had  determined  to  ride  back  again  by  way  of  enjoying  a  better 
horse  in  case  I  should  ever  come  across  one. 

The  President  took  a  fancy  to  have  four  little  bales  also  ;  they 
were  a  genuine  curiosity  to  him,  and  Tad  wanted  four  bales  be 
cause  his  father  had  them. 

Thus  accoutred,  we  started  out  on  the  return  journey,  my  horse 
cutting  all  kinds  of  capers  without  being  able  to  throw  me.  The 
President  paid  me  a  high  compliment.  "  Admiral,"  he  said,  "  you 
mistook  your  profession  ;  you  ought  to  have  been  a  circus-rider.  I 
don't  think  there's  another  man  in  the  United  States,  besides  his 
owner,  who  could  ride  that  horse  half  a  mile." 

Several  regiments  passed  us  en  route,  and  they  all  seemed  to 
recognize  the  President  at  once.  "Three  cheers  for  Uncle  Abe  !" 
passed  along  among  them,  and  the  cheers  were  given  with  a  vim 
which  showed  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  soldiers 
— a  class  of  men  who  had  in  their  ranks  as  much  intelligence  as  any 
in  the  country ;  more  real,  good  common  sense  than  many  others, 
and  who  understood  the  situation  of  affairs  as  well,  if  not  better, 
than  those  who  pretended  to  more  wisdom.  One  good-natured 
fellow  sang  out,  "We'll  get  'em,  Abe,  where  the  'boy  had  the 
hen ' ;  you  go  home,  and  sleep  sound  to-night ;  we  boys  will  put 
you  through  ! "  It  was  not  a  very  courtier-like  speech,  certainly  ; 
it  was  homely  and  honest ;  and  so  they  cheered  us  all  along  the 
road. 

In  the  mean  time  Grant  continued  his  approaches  on  toward 
Eichmond  until  he  reached  the  Appomattox  apple-tree  where 
General  Lee  surrendered,  with  all  the  troops  and  appurtenances 
under  his  immediate  command. 

While  these  movements  were  taking  place  the  President,  my 
self,  and  Tad  were  making  excursions  up  and  down  the  James 
River  in  my  barge.  We  would  make  fast  to  a  tug  with  a  long  line, 


292    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

and  let  her  tow  us.  If  this  is  not  the  luxury  of  locomotion,  I  don't 
know  what  is,  and  it  certainly  seemed  very  grateful  to  the  President 
then.  He  said  he  should  always  look  upon  this  time  as  the  real 
holiday  of  his  administration.  He  seemed  almost  to  forget  that  he 
had  any  public  cares.  He  knew  that  the  war  was  practically  over, 
and  he  never  thought  of  the  future  but  as  a  vision  of  bright  pros 
perity,  wherein,  with  the  black  spot  scratched  from  our  escutcheon, 
we  would  move  on  as  a  liberty-loving  people,  and  attain  the  high 
est  position  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Poor  man  !  he  little  thought  then  how  short  was  the  time  in 
which  he  would  be  allowed  to  contemplate  the  new  state  of  affairs, 
and  how  many  years  would  elapse  before  the  millennium  he  dreamed 
of  could  be  established.  Perhaps  it  was  a  wise  dispensation  of 
Providence  which  took  him  from  after-scenes  so  little  in  accord 
ance  with  his  feelings,  wherein  he  would  not  have  been  permitted 
to  indulge  in  the  whole-souled  plans  he  had  formed  for  the  recon 
struction  of  the  Republic. 

About  this  time  we  heard  of  the  arrival  of  Sherman  at  Newbern 
after  his  march  to  the  sea,  and  he  was  now  confronting  General  Joe 
Johnston  in  a  position  whence  the  latter  would  have  to  fight  his 
way  or  surrender.  This  was  good  news  to  the  President.  "If 
proper  terms  are  offered,"  he  said  to  me,  "and  with  wise  manage 
ment,  these  two  armies  will  lay  down  their  arms  in  a  week,  and 
then  all  the  Confederate  armies  will  follow  their  example.  It  will 
be  like  those  rows  of  bricks  boys  sometimes  put  up  :  knock  down 
the  first  one,  and  the  rest  all  follow.  The  Confederates  are  tired  of 
it,  and  so  are  we." 

The  night  before  Richmond  was  evacuated  by  the  Confederate 
forces  we  were  sitting  on  the  Malvern's  upper  deck,  enjoying  the 
evening  air.  The  President,  who  had  been  some  time  quiet,  turned 
to  me  and  said,  "  Can't  the  navy  do  something  at  this  particular 
moment  to  make  history  ?  " 

"Not  much,"  I  replied  ;  " the  navy  is  doing  its  best  just  now 
holding  in  utter  uselessness  the  rebel  navy,  consisting  of  four  heavy 
ironclads.  If  those  should  get  down  to  City  Point  they  would 
commit  great  havoc — as  they  came  near  doing  while  I  was  away  at 
Fort  Fisher.  In  consequence,  we  filled  up  the  river  with  stones  so 
that  no  vessels  can  pass  either  way.  It  enables  us  to  '  hold  the  fort ' 
with  a  very  small  force,  but  quite  sufficient  to  prevent  any  one  from 
removing  the  obstructions.  Therefore  the  rebels'  ironclads  are  use 
less  to  them." 


FOUR   CONFEDERATE   IRONCLADS  BLOWN   UP.        293 

"  But  can't  we  make  a  noise  ? "  asked  the  President ;  "  that 
would  be  refreshing." 

'"Yes,"  I  replied,  "  we  can  make  a  noise  ;  and,  if  you  desire  it, 
I  will  commence." 

"Well,  make  a  noise,"  he  said. 

I  sent  a  telegram  to  Captain  Breese,  just  above  Dutch  Gap,  to 
commence  firing  the  starboard  broadside  guns  of  the  vessels  above, 
to  have  the  guns  loaded  with  shrapnel,  and  to  fire  in  the  direction 
of  the  forts  without  attempting  any  particular  aim,  to  fire  rapidly, 
and  to  keep  it  up  until  I  told  him  to  stop.  The  firing  commenced 
about  nine  o'clock,  the  hour  when  all  good  soldiers  and  sailors  turn 
in  and  take  their  rest. 

The  President  admitted  that  the  noise  was  a  very  respectable 
one,  and  listened  to  it  attentively,  while  the  rapid  flashes  of  the  guns 
lit  up  the  whole  horizon. 

In  about  twenty  minutes  there  was  a  loud  explosion  which  shook 
the  vessel. 

The  President  jumped  from  his  chair.  "  I  hope  to  Heaven  one 
of  them  has  not  blown  up  ! "  he  exclaimed. 

"No,  sir,"  I  replied.  "  My  ear  detects  that  the  sound  was  at 
least  two  miles  farther  up  the  river  ;  it  is  one  of  the  rebel  iron 
clads.  You  will  hear  another  in  a  minute." 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  our  noise  has  done  some  good  ;  that's  a  cheap 
way  of  getting  rid  of  ironclads.  I  am  certain  Richmond  is  being 
evacuated,  and  that  Lee  has  surrendered,  or  those  fellows  would  not 
blow  up  their  ironclads." 

Just  then  there  was  a  second  explosion,  and  two  more  followed 
close  after. 

"  That  is  all  of  them,"  I  said  ;  "no  doubt  the  forts  are  all  evacu 
ated,  and  to-morrow  we  can  go  up  to  Richmond.  I  will  telegraph 
to  Captain  Breese  to  take  the  obstructions  up  to-night,  or  at  least 
enough  of  them  to  let  the  Malvern  go  through." 

The  telegram  was  sent,  and  the  work  of  moving  the  obstruc 
tions  commenced  at  once.  It  was  completed  by  eight  o'clock  the 
following  morning,  and  several  of  the  smaller  vessels  went 
through,  got  their  boats  out,  and  began  sweeping  the  river  for 
torpedoes. 

At  daylight  it  was  discovered  that  all  the  forts  had  been  set  on 
fire  and  evacuated,  and  nothing  was  to  be  seen  of  the  ironclads  but 
their  black  hulls  partly  out  of  water. 

General  Weitzel,  who  commanded  the  army  on  the  left  of  the 


294:    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

James,  was  marching  into  Richmond,  and  the  whole  tragedy  was 
over. 

"Thank  God,"  said  the  President,  fervently,  "that  I  have 
lived  to  see  this  !  It  seems  to  me  that  I  have  been  dreaming  a 
horrid  dream  for  four  years,  and  now  the  nightmare  is  gone.  I 
want  to  see  Kichmond." 

"  If  there  is  any  of  it  left,"  I  added.  "  There  is  a  black  smoke 
over  the  city,  but  before  we  can  go  up  we  must  remove  all  the  tor 
pedoes  ;  the  river  is  full  of  them  above  Hewlit's  Battery."  It  would 
have  been  simple  destruction  to  attempt  to  go  up  there  while  the 
Confederates  were  in  charge,  and  we  could  not  have  accomplished 
anything  without  a  loss  of  life  and  vessels  that  would  have  been 
unjustifiable ;  it  was  better  as  it  was,  and  the  only  course  was  to 
co-operate  with  the  general  of  the  army  according  to  his  own  desire. 

"When  the  channel  was  reported  clear  of  torpedoes  (a  large 
number  of  which  were  taken  up),  I  proceeded  up  to  Richmond  in 
the  Malvern,  with  President  Lincoln  on  board  the  River  Queen,  and 
a  heavy  feeling  of  responsibility  on  my  mind,  notwithstanding  the 
great  care  that  had  been  taken  to  clear  the  river. 

Every  vessel  that  got  through  the  obstructions  wished  to  be  the 
first  one  up,  and  pushed  ahead  with  all  steam  ;  but  they  grounded, 
one  after  another,  the  Malvern  passing  them  all,  until  she  also  took 
the  ground.  Not  to  be  delayed,  I  took  the  President  in  my  barge, 
and,  with  a  tug  ahead  with  a  file  of  marines  on  board,  we  continued 
on  up  to  the  city. 

There  was  a  large  bridge  across  the  James  about  a  mile  below 
the  landing,  and  under  this  a  party  in  a  small  steamer  were  caught 
and  held  by  the  current,  with  no  prospect  of  release  without  assist 
ance.  These  people  begged  me  to  extricate  them  from  their  peril 
ous  position,  so  I  ordered  the  tug  to  cast  off  and  help  them,  leav 
ing  us  in  the  barge  to  go  on  alone. 

Here  we  were  in  a  solitary  boat,  after  having  set  out  with  a 
number  of  vessels  flying  flags  at  every  mast-head,  hoping  to  enter 
the  conquered  capital  in  a  manner  befitting  the  rank  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  with  a  further  intention  of  firing  a  na 
tional  salute  in  honor  of  the  happy  result. 

I  remember  the  President's  remarks  on  the  occasion.  "Admi 
ral,  this  brings  to  my  mind  a  fellow  who  once  came  to  me  to  ask 
for  an  appointment  as  minister  abroad.  Finding  he  could  not 
get  that,  he  came  down  to  some  more  modest  position.  Finally 
he  asked  to  be  made  a  tide-waiter.  "When  he  saw  he  could  not  get 


NEGRO  HOMAGE  TO  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN.  295 

that,  he  asked  me  for  an  old  pair  of  trousers.  But  it  is  well  to  be 
humble." 

The  tug  never  caught  up  with  us.  She  got  jammed  in  the 
bridge,  and  remained  there  that  tide. 

I  had  never  been  to  Richmond  before  by  that  route,  and  did  not 
know  where  the  landing  was  ;  neither  did  the  coxswain,  nor  any  of 
the  barge's  crew.  We  pulled  on,  hoping  to  see  some  one  of  whom 
we  could  inquire,  but  no  one  was  in  sight. 

The  street  along  the  river-front  was  as  deserted  as  if  this  had 
been  a  city  of  the  dead.  The  troops  had  been  in  possession  some 
hours,  but  not  a  soldier  was  to  be  seen. 

The  current  was  now  rushing  past  us  over  and  among  rocks,  on 
one  of  which  we  finally  stuck. 

"Send  for  Colonel  Bailey,"  said  the  President;  "he  will  get 
you  out  of  this." 

"  JSTo,  sir,  we  don't  want  Colonel  Bailey  this  time.  I  can  man 
age  it."  So  I  backed  out  and  pointed  for  the  nearest  landing. 

There  was  a  small  house  on  this  landing,  and  behind  it  were 
some  twelve  negroes  digging  with  spades.  The  leader  of  them  was 
an  old  man  sixty  years  of  age.  He  raised  himself  to  an  upright 
position  as  we  landed,  and  put  his  hands  up  to  his  eyes.  Then  he 
dropped  his  spade  and  sprang  forward.  "  Bress  de  Lord,"  he  said, 
"dere  is  de  great  Messiah  !  I  knowed  him  as  soon  as  I  seed  him. 
He's  bin  in  my  heart  fo'  long  yeahs,  an'  he's  cum  at  las'  to  free  his 
chillun  from  deir  bondage  !  Glory,  Hallelujah  !  "  And  he  fell  upon 
his  knees  before  the  President  and  kissed  his  feet.  The  others 
followed  his  example,  and  in  a  minute  Mr.  Lincoln  was  surrounded 
by  these  people,  who  had  treasured  up  the  recollection  of  him 
caught  from  a  photograph,  and  had  looked  up  to  him  for  four  years 
as  the  one  who  was  to  lead  them  out  of  captivity. 

It  was  a  touching  sight — that  aged  negro  kneeling  at  the  feet  of 
the  tall,  gaunt-looking  man  who  seemed  in  himself  to  be  bearing 
all  the  grief  of  the  nation,  and  whose  sad  face  seemed  to  say,  "  I 
suffer  for  you  all,  but  will  do  all  I  can  to  help  you." 

Mr.  Lincoln  looked  down  on  the  poor  creatures  at  his  feet ;  he 
was  much  embarrassed  at  his  position.  "Don't  kneel  to  me,"  he 
said.  "  That  is  not  right.  You  must  kneel  to  God  only,  and  thank 
him  for  the  liberty  you  will  hereafter  enjoy.  I  am  but  God's  humble 
instrument ;  but  you  may  rest  assured  that  as  long  as  I  live  no  one 
shall  put  a  shackle  on  your  limbs,  and  you  shall  have  all  the  rights 
which  God  has  given  to  every  other  free  citizen  of  this  Republic." 


INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

His  face  was  lit  up  with  a  divine  look  as  he  uttered  these  words. 
Though  not  a  handsome  man,  and  ungainly  in  his  person,  yet  in 
his  enthusiasm  he  seemed  the  personification  of  manly  beauty,  and 
that  sad  face  of  his  looked  down  in  kindness  upon  these  ignorant 
blacks  with  a  grace  that  could  not  be  excelled.  He  really  seemed 
of  another  world. 

All  this  scene  was  of  brief  duration,  but,  though  a  simple  and 
humble  affair,  it  impressed  me  more  than  anything  of  the  kind  I 
ever  witnessed.  What  a  fine  picture  that  would  have  made — Mr. 
Lincoln  landing  from  a  ship-of-war's  boat,  an  aged  negro  on  his 
knees  at  his  feet,  and  a  dozen  more  trying  to  reach  him  to  kiss  the 
hem  of  his  garments  !  In  the  foreground  should  be  the  shackles  he 
had  broken  when  he  issued  his  proclamation  giving  liberty  to  the 
slave. 

Twenty  years  have  passed  since  that  event ;  it  is  almost  too  new 
in  history  to  make  a  great  impression,  but  the  time  will  come  when 
it  will  loom  up  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  man's  achievements,  and 
the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln — who  of  his  own  will  struck  the 
shackles  from  the  limbs  of  four  millions  of  people — will  be  honored 
thousands  of  years  from  now  as  man's  name  was  never  honored 
before. 

It  was  a  minute  or  two  before  I  could  get  the  negroes  to  rise  and 
leave  the  President.  The  scene  was  so  touching  I  hated  to  disturb 
it,  yet  we  could  not  stay  there  all  day  ;  we  had  to  move  on  ;  so  I 
requested  the  patriarch  to  withdraw  from  about  the  President  with 
his  companions  and  let  us  pass  on. 

"  Yes,  Massa,"  said  the  old  man,  "but  after  bein'  so  many  years 
in  de  desert  widout  water,  it's  mighty  pleasant  to  be  lookin'  at  las' 
on  our  spring  of  life.  'Seuse  us,  sir ;  we  means  no  disrespec'  to 
Mass'  Lincoln  ;  we  means  all  love  and  gratitude."  And  then,  join 
ing  hands  together  in  a  ring,  the  negroes  sang  the  following  hymn 
with  melodious  and  touching  voices  only  possessed  by  the  negroes 
of  the  South  : 

"  Oh,  all  ye  people  clap  your  hands, 

And  with  triumphant  voices  sing ; 
No  force  the  mighty  power  withstands 
Of  God,  the  universal  King." 

The  President  and  all  of  us  listened  respectfully  while  the  hymn 
was  being  sung.  Four  minutes  at  most  had  passed  away  since  we 
first  landed  at  a  point  where,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the 


AN   OVATION   WORTHY   OF  AN   EMPEROR.  297 

streets  were  entirely  deserted,  but  now  what  a  different  scene  ap 
peared  as  that  hymn  went  forth  from  the  negroes'  lips  !  The  streets 
seemed  to  be  suddenly  alive  with  the  colored  race.  They  seemed  to 
spring  from  the  earth.  They  came,  tumbling  and  shouting,  from 
over  the  hills  and  from  the  water-side,  where  no  one  was  seen  as 
we  had  passed. 

The  crowd  immediately  became  very  oppressive.  TVe  needed 
our  marines  to  keep  them  off. 

I  ordered  twelve  of  the  boat's  crew  to  fix  bayonets  to  their  rifles 
and  to  surround  the  President,  all  of  which  was  quickly  done  ;  but 
the  crowd  poured  in  so  fearfully  that  I  thought  we  all  stood  a 
chance  of  being  crushed  to  death. 

I  now  realized  the  imprudence  of  landing  without  a  large  body 
of  marines  ;  and  yet  this  seemed  to  me,  after  all,  the  fittest  way  for 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  come  among  the  people  he  had  redeemed  from 
bondage. 

"What  an  ovation  he  had,  to  be  sure,  from  those  so-called  igno 
rant  beings  !  They  all  had  their  souls  in  their  eyes,  and  I  don't 
think  I  ever  looked  upon  a  scene  where  there  were  so  many  passion 
ately  happy  faces. 

While  some  were  rushing  forward  to  try  and  touch  the  man 
they  had  talked  of  and  dreamed  of  for  four  long  years,  others  stood 
off  a  little  way  and  looked  on  in  awe  and  wonder.  Others  turned 
somersaults,  and  many  yelled  for  joy.  Half  of  them  acted  as 
though  demented,  and  could  find  no  way  of  testifying  their  delight. 

They  had  been  made  to  believe  that  they  never  would  gain  their 
liberty,  and  here  they  were  brought  face  to  face  with  it  when  least 
expected.  It  was  as  a  beautiful  toy  unexpectedly  given  to  a  child 
after  months  of  hopeless  longing  on  its  part ;  it  was  such  joy  as 
never  kills,  but  animates  the  dullest  class  of  humanity. 

But  we  could  not  stay  there  all  day  looking  at  this  happy  mass 
of  people ;  the  crowds  and  their  yells  were  increasing,  and  in  a 
short  time  we  would  be  unable  to  move  at  all.  The  negroes,  in 
their  ecstasy,  could  not  be  made  to  understand  that  they  were  de 
taining  the  President ;  they  looked  upon  him  as  belonging  to  them, 
and  that  he  had  come  to  put  the  crowning  act  to  the  great  work  he 
had  commenced.  They  would  not  feel  they  were  free  in  reality 
until  they  heard  it  from  his  own  lips. 

At  length  he  spoke.  He  could  not  move  for  the  mass  of  people 
— he  had  to  do  something. 

"  My  poor  friends,"  he  said,  "  you  are  free — free  as  air.     You 


298    INCIDENTS   AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

can  cast  off  the  name  of  slave  and  trample  upon  it ;  it  will  come  to 
you  no  more.  Liberty  is  your  birthright.  God  gave  it  to  you  as 
he  gave  it  to  others,  and  it  is  a  sin  that  you  have  been  deprived  of 
it  for  so  many  years.  But  you  must  try  to  deserve  this  priceless 
boon.  Let  the  world  see  that  you  merit  it,  and  are  able  to  main 
tain  it  by  your  good  works.  Don't  let  your  joy  carry  you  into 
excesses.  Learn  the  laws  and  obey  them  ;  obey  God's  command 
ments  and  thank  him  for  giving  you  liberty,  for  to  him  you  owe 
all  things.  There,  now,  let  me  pass  on ;  I  have  but  little  time  to 
spare.  I  want  to  see  the  capital,  and  must  return  at  once  to  Wash 
ington  to  secure  to  you  that  liberty  which  you  seem  to  prize  so 
highly." 

The  crowd  shouted  and  screeched  as  if  they  would  split  the 
firmament,  though  while  the  President  was  speaking  you  might 
have  heard  a  pin  drop.  I  don't  think  any  one  could  do  justice  to 
that  scene  ;  it  would  be  necessary  to  photograph  it  to  understand  it. 

One  could  not  help  wondering  where  all  this  black  mass  of  hu 
manity  came  from,  or  if  they  were  all  the  goods  and  chattels  of 
those  white  people  who  had  for  four  years  set  the  armies  of  the 
Eepublic  at  defiance  ;  who  had  made  these  people  work  on  their 
defenses  and  carry  their  loads,  the  only  reward  for  which  was  the 
stronger  riveting  of  the  chains  which  kept  them  in  subjection. 

At  length  we  were  able  to  move  on,  the  crowd  opening  for  us 
with  shouts.  I  got  the  twelve  seamen  with  fixed  bayonets  around 
the  President  to  keep  him  from  being  crushed.  It  never  struck 
me  that  there  was  any  one  in  that  multitude  who  would  injure  him  ; 
it  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  an  army  of  supporters  there  who  could 
and  would  defend  him  against  all  the  world. 

But  likely  there  were  scowling  eyes  not  far  off  ;  men  were  per 
haps  looking  on,  with  hatred  in  their  hearts,  who  were  even  then 
seeking  an  opportunity  to  slay  him. 

Our  progress  was  very  slow  ;  we  did  not  move  a  mile  an  hour, 
and  the  crowd  was  still  increasing. 

Many  poor  whites  joined  the  throng,  and  sent  up  their  shouts 
with  the  rest.  We  were  nearly  half  an  hour  getting  from  abreast 
of  Libby  Prison  to  the  edge  of  the  city.  The  President  stopped  a 
moment  to  look  on  the  horrid  bastile  where  so  many  Union  soldiers 
had  dragged  out  a  dreadful  existence,  and  were  subjected  to  all 
•the  cruelty  the  minds  of  brutal  jailers  could  devise. 

6 '  We  will  pull  it  down,"  cried  the  crowd,  seeing  where  his  look 
fell. 


ENTRANCE   INTO   RICHMOND.  299 

"No,"  he  said,  "leave  it  as  a  monument." 

He  did  not  say  a  monument  to  what,  but  he  meant,  I  am  sure, 
to  leave  it  as  a  monument  to  the  loyalty  of  our  soldiers,  who  would 
bear  all  the  horrors  of  Libby  sooner  than  desert  their  flag  and  cause. 

We  struggled  on,  the  great  crowd  preceding  us,  and  an  equally 
dense  crowd  of  blacks  following  on  behind — all  so  packed  together 
that  some  of  them  frequently  sang  out  in  pain. 

It  was  not  a  model  style  for  the  President  of  the  United  States 
to  enter  the  capital  of  a  conquered  country,  yet  there  was  a  moral 
in  it  all  which  had  more  effect  than  if  he  had  come  surrounded  with 
great  armies  and  heralded  by  the  booming  of  cannon. 

He  came,  armed  with  the  majesty  of  the  law,  to  put  his  seal  to 
the  act  which  had  been  established  by  the  bayonets  of  the  Union 
soldiers — the  establishment  of  peace  and  good- will  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  liberty  to  all  mankind  who  dwell  upon 
our  shores. 

We  forced  our  way  onward  slowly,  and,  as  we  reached  the  edge 
of  the  city,  the  sidewalks  were  lined  on  both  sides  of  the  streets 
with  black  and  white  alike — all  looking  with  curious,  eager  faces  at 
the  man  who  held  their  destiny  in  his  hand ;  but  there  was  no  anger 
in  any  one's  face  ;  the  whole  was  like  a  gala  day,  and  it  looked  as 
if  the  President  was  some  expected  guest  who  had  come  to  receive 
great  honors.  Indeed,  no  man  was  ever  accorded  a  greater  ovation 
than  was  extended  to  him,  be  it  from  warm  hearts  or  from  simple 
ceremony. 

It  was  a  warm  day,  and  the  streets  were  dusty,  owing  to  the 
immense  gathering  which  covered  every  part  of  them,  kicking  up 
the  dirt.  The  atmosphere  was  suffocating,  but  Mr.  Lincoln  could 
be  seen  plainly  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  towering  head  and 
shoulders  above  that  crowd  ;  he  overtopped  every  man  there.  He 
carried  his  hat  in  his  hand,  fanning  his  face,  from  which  the  per 
spiration  was  pouring.  He  looked  as  if  he  would  have  given  his 
Presidency  for  a  glass  of  water — I  would  have  given  my  commis 
sion  for  half  that. 

Now  came  another  phase  in  the  procession.  As  we  entered  the 
city  every  window  flew  up,  from  ground  to  roof,  and  every  one  was 
filled  with  eager,  peering  faces,  which  turned  one  to  another  and 
seemed  to  ask,  "  Is  this  large  man,  with  soft  eyes  and  kind,  be 
nevolent  face,  the  one  who  has  been  held  up  to  us  as  the  incarna 
tion  of  wickedness,  the  destroyer  of  the  South  ? "  I  think  that 
illusion  vanished,  if  it  was  ever  harbored  by  any  one  there.  I  don't 


300   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

know  what  there  was  to  amuse  them  in  looking  on  the  scene  before 
them,  but  certainly  I  never  saw  a  merrier  crowd  in  my  life,  black 
or  white. 

"We  were  brought  to  a  halt  by  the  dense  jam  before  we  had  gone 
a  square  into  the  city,  which  was  still  on  fire  near  the  Tredegar 
Works  and  in  the  structures  thereabout,  and  the  smoke,  setting 
our  way,  almost  choked  us. 

I  had  not  seen  a  soldier  whom  I  could  send  to  General  Weitzel 
to  ask  for  an  escort,  and  it  would  have  been  useless  to  send  one  of 
the  contrabands,  for  he  would  have  been  too  much  interested  in 
seeing  the  sights  and  in  looking  at  the  President,  from  whom  none 
of  them  took  their  eyes.  I  don't  think  any  one  noticed  the  rest  of 
the  party. 

I  think  the  people  could  not  h,ave  had  a  gala  day  since  the  Con 
federates  occupied  Kichmond  as  headquarters.  Judging  from  pres 
ent  appearances,  they  certainly  were  not  grieving  over  the  loss  of 
the  Government  which  had  just  fled. 

There  was  nothing  like  taunt  or  defiance  in  the  faces  of  those 
who  were  gazing  from  the  windows  or  craning  their  necks  from  the 
sidewalks  to  catch  a  view  of  the  President.  The  look  of  every  one 
was  that  of  eager  curiosity — nothing  more. 

While  we  were  stopped  for  a  moment  by  the  crowd,  a  white 
man  in  his  shirt-sleeves  rushed  from  the  sidewalk  toward  the  Presi 
dent.  His  looks  were  so  eager  that  I  questioned  his  friendship, 
and  prepared  to  receive  him  on  the  point  of  my  sword  ;  but  when 
he  got  within  ten  feet  of  us  he  suddenly  stopped  short,  took  off  his 
hat,  and  cried  out,  "  Abraham  Lincoln,  God  bless  you  !  You  are  the 
poor  man's  friend  ! "  Then  he  tried  to  force  his  way  to  the  Presi 
dent  to  shake  hands  with  him.  He  would  not  take  "  No  "  for  an 
answer  until  I  had  to  treat  him  rather  roughly,  when  he  stood  off, 
with  his  arms  folded,  and  looked  intently  after  us.  The  last  I  saw 
of  him  he  was  throwing  his  hat  into  the  air. 

Just  after  this  a  beautiful  girl  came  from  the  sidewalk,  with  a 
large  bouquet  of  roses  in  her  hand,  and  advanced,  struggling 
through  the  crowd  toward  the  President.  The  mass  of  people  en 
deavored  to  open  to  let  her  pass,  but  she  had  a  hard  time  in  reach 
ing  him.  Her  clothes  were  very  much  disarranged  -in  making  the 
journey  across  the  street. 

I  reached  out  and  helped  her  within  the  circle  of  the  sailors' 
bayonets,  where,  although  nearly  stifled  with  the  dust,  she  grace 
fully  presented  her  bouquet  to  the  President  and  made  a  neat  little 


RICHMOND  LEFT  TO  THE  PROTECTION  OF  OUR  TROOPS.  301 

speech,  while  he  held  her  hand.  The  beauty  and  youth  of  the  girl 
— for  she  was  only  about  seventeen— made  the  presentation  yery 
touching. 

There  was  a  card  on  the  bouquet  with  these  simple  words  : 
"From  Eva  to  the  Liberator  of  the  slaves."  She  remained  no 
longer  than  to  deliver  her  present ;  then  two  of  the  sailors  were 
sent  to  escort  her  back  to  the  sidewalk.  There  was  no  cheering  at 
this,  nor  yet  was  any  disapprobation  shown  ;  but  it  was  evidently  a 
matter  of  great  interest,  for  the  girl  was  surrounded  and  plied  with 
questions. 

I  asked  myself  what  all  this  could  mean  but  that  the  people  of 
Eichmond  were  glad  to  see  the  end  of  the  strife  and  the  advent  of 
a  milder  form  of  government  than  that  which  had  just  departed  in 
such  an  ignoble  manner.  They  felt  that  the  late  Government, 
instead  of  decamping  with  the  gold  of  the  Confederacy,  should 
have  remained  at  the  capital,  and  surrendered  in  a  dignified  man 
ner,  making  terms  for  the  citizens  of  the  place,  guarding  their 
rights,  and  acknowledging  that  they  had  lost  the  game.  There 
was  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of  in  such  a  surrender  to  a  vastly  su 
perior  force  ;  their  armies  had  fought  as  people  never  fought  before. 
"They  had  robbed  the  cradle  and  the  grave "  to  sustain  themselves, 
and  all  that  was  wanted  to  make  them  glorious  was  the  submission 
of  the  leaders,  with  the  troops,  in  a  dignified  way,  while  they  might 
have  said,  "We  have  done  our  best  to  win,  but  you  have  justice  on 
your  side,  and  are  too  strong  for  us ;  we  pledge  ourselves  to  keep 
the  peace." 

Instead  of  remaining  to  protect  the  citizens  against  ruffianism, 
the  Confederate  authorities  of  Richmond  left  that  to  our  troops, 
and  I  will  say  no  soldiers  ever  performed  a  trust  more  faithfully. 
At  the  moment  of  which  I  speak  the  majority  of  them  were  en 
gaged  in  putting  out  the  fires  that  were  started  as  the  enemy  left 
the  town,  determined,  it  seemed,  to  destroy  all  the  public  works, 
so  that  we  could  derive  no  benefit  from  them.  They  would  have 
been  about  as  useful  to  us  as  the  old  "hay-ricks"  which  encum 
bered  the  navy  list  at  the  end  of  the  war. 

At  length  I  got  hold  of  a  cavalryman.  He  was  sitting  his  horse 
near  the  sidewalk,  blocked  in  by  the  people,  and  looking  on  with 
the  same  expression  of  interest  as  the  others. 

He  was  the  only  soldier  I  had  seen  since  we  landed,  showing 
that  the  general  commanding  the  Union  forces  had  no  desire  to 
interfere,  in  any  case,  with  the  comfort  of  the  citizens.  There  was 


302   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

only  guard  enough  posted  about  the  streets  to  protect  property  and 
to  prevent  irregularities. 

"Go  to  the  general,"  I  said  to  the  trooper,  "and  tell  him  to 
send  a  military  escort  here  to  guard  the  President  and  get  him 
through  this  crowd  !  " 

"Is  that  old  Abe?"  asked  the  soldier,  his  eyes  as  large  as 
saucers.  The  sight  of  the  President  was  as  strange  to  him  as  to 
the  inhabitants  ;  but  off  he  went  as  fast  as  the  crowd  would  allow 
him,  and,  some  twenty  minutes  later,  I  heard  the  clatter  of  horses' 
hoofs  over  the  stones  as  a  troop  of  cavalry  came  galloping  and 
clearing  the  street,  which  they  did,  however,  as  mildly  as  if  for  a 
parade. 

For  the  first  time  since  starting  from  the  landing  we  were  able 
to  walk  along  uninterruptedly.  In  a  short  time  we  reached  the 
mansion  of  Mr.  Davis,  President  of  the  Confederacy,  occupied  after 
the  evacuation  as  the  headquarters  of  Generals  Weitzel  and  Shepley. 
It  was  quite  a  small  affair  compared  with  the  White  House,  and 
modest  in  all  its  appointments,  showing  that  while  President  Davis 
was  engaged  heart  and  soul  in  endeavoring  to  effect  the  division  of 
the  States,  he  was  not,  at  least,  surrounding  himself  with  regal 
style,  but  was  living  in  a  modest,  comfortable  way,  like  any  other 
citizen. 

Amid  all  his  surroundings  the  refined  taste  of  his  wife  was 
apparent,  and  marked  everything  about  the  apartments. 

There  was  great  cheering  going  on.  Hundreds  of  civilians — I 
don't  know  who  they  were — assembled  at  the  front  of  the  house  to 
welcome  Mr.  Lincoln. 

General  Shepley  made  a  speech  and  gave  us  a  lunch,  after  which 
we  entered  a  carriage  and  visited  the  State-House — the  late  seat  of 
the  Confederate  Congress.  It  was  in  dreadful  disorder,  betokening 
a  sudden  and  unexpected  flight ;  members'  tables  were  upset,  bales 
of  Confederate  scrip  were  lying  about  the  floor,  and  many  official 
documents  of  some  value  were  scattered  about.  It  was  strange  to 
me  that  they  had  not  set  fire  to  the  building  before  they  departed, 
to  bury  in  oblivion  every  record  that  might  remain  relating  to  the 
events  of  the  past  four  years. 

After  this  inspection  I  urged  the  President  to  go  on  board  the 
Malvern.  I  began  to  feel  more  heavily  the  responsibility  resting 
upon  me  through  the  care  of  his  person.  The  evening  was  ap 
proaching,  and  we  were  in  a  carriage  open  on  all  sides.  He  was 
glad  to  go ;  he  was  tired  out,  and  wanted  the  quiet  of  the  flag-ship. 


ON  BOARD   THE   MALVERN  AGAIN.  303 

We  took  leave  of  our  hosts  and  departed. 

I  was  oppressed  with  uneasiness  until  we  got  on  board  and 
stood  on  deck  with  the  President  safe  ;  then  there  was  not  a  hap 
pier  man  anywhere  than  myself. 

I  determined  that  the  President  should  go  nowhere  again, 
while  under  my  charge,  unless  I  was  with  him  and  had  a  guard  of 
marines.  I  thought  of  the  risks  we  had  run  that  day,  and  I  was 
satisfied  before  night  was  over  that  I  had  good  cause  for  apprehen 
sion. 

We  were  all  sitting  on  the  upper  deck  about  eight  o'clock  that 
evening,  when  a  man  came  down  to  the  landing  and  hailed  the 
Malvern  (the  vessel  had  come-to  off  the  city  during  the  day),  say 
ing  that  he  had  dispatches  for  the  President.  I  told  the  captain  to 
send  a  boat  to  the  shore  to  bring  off  the  dispatches,  but  not  to 
bring  the  bearer.  The  boat  returned  with  neither  dispatches  nor 
man.  The  boat-officer  said  the  man  would  not  deliver  the  dis 
patches  to  any  one  but  the  President  himself. 

"  Let  him  come  on  board,"  said  the  President. 

"  Don't  you  think  we  should  be  careful  whom  we  admit  after 
dark,  sir  ?  "  I  asked. 

"Well,  yes,"  he  replied;  "but  these  dispatches  may  be  from 
General  Grant,  and  the  man  may  be  only  obeying  his  orders  liter 
ally." 

I  ordered  the  boat  to  go  back  and  bring  the  man  on  board,  de 
termined  to  stand  near  the  President  when  the  dispatches  were 
delivered. 

I  knew  that  General  Grant  would  send  dispatches  only  by  an 
officer,  and  the  midshipman  in  the  boat  told  me  this  was  not  one. 

When  the  boat  returned  to  the  shore  the  man  was  gone.  As  I 
suspected,  he  was  a  bogus  dispatch-bearer.  The  circumstance  was 
very  suspicious. 

I  inquired  about  the  appearance  of  the  person  when  seen  by  the 
officer  of  the  boat. 

"  He  was  a  tall  man  with  a  black  moustache,  wore  a  slouch  hat 
and  a  long  cloak,  a  regular  theatrical  villain — one  of  the  stereotyped 
play  robbers." 

That  man  was,  without  doubt,  Wilkes  Booth,  who  sought  the 
President's  life.  It  would  have  suited  Booth's  tragical  spirit  to  slay 
him  on  such  an  occasion  ;  it  would  have  added  greatly  to  the  scenic 
effect. 

In  the  course  of  a  half-hour  another  hail  came  from  the  shore, 


304:    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

from  which  we  lay  not  more  than  twenty  yards.  A  person  wanted 
a  boat ;  a  sailor  from  the  Saugus  wanted  to  report  himself  on  board. 
There  was  no  such  vessel  in  the  fleet,  though  there  was  one  in  the 
navy.  I  sent  an  officer  and  four  men  in  the  boat  to  bring  the  man 
off,  not  to  let  him  escape,  and,  when  in  the  boat,  to  put  hand-irons 
on  him.  Then  I  swept  the  shore  with  a  night-glass,  but  could  see 
no  one.  The  boat  landed  a  minute  later.  There  was  no  man  to 
be  seen.  The  boat's  crew  ran  up  and  down  the  river  and  looked 
over  the  bank,  but  no  one  could  be  found. 

These  two  circumstances  made  me  more  suspicious,  and  every 
care  was  taken  that  no  one  should  get  on  board  without  full  identi 
fication. 

The  President  himself  felt  a  little  unpleasant  and  nervous,  and 
that  night  a  marine  kept  guard  at  his  state-room  door. 

Next  morning,  at  ten  o'clock,  Mr.  John  A.  Campbell,  late  Jus 
tice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States^  sent  a  request  to 
be  allowed  to  come  on  board  with  General  Weitzel.  He  wanted  to 
call  on  the  President.  He  came  on  board  and  spent  an  hour.  The 
President  and  himself  seemed  to  be  enjoying  themselves  very  much, 
to  judge  from  their  laughter. 

I  did  not  go  down  to  the  cabin.  In  about  an  hour  General 
"Weitzel  and  Mr.  Campbell  came  on  deck,  asked  for  a  boat,  and 
were  landed. 

I  went  down  below  for  a  moment,  and  the  President  said  : 
"  Admiral,  I  am  sorry  you  were  not  here  when  Mr.  Campbell  was 
on  board.  He  has  gone  on  shore  happy.  I  gave  him  a  written 
permission  to  allow  the  State  Legislature  to  convene  in  the  Capitol 
in  the  absence  of  all  other  government." 

I  was  rather  astonished  at  this  piece  of  information.  I  felt  that 
this  course  would  bring  about  complications,  and  wondered  how  it 
had  all  come  to  pass.  I  found  it  had  all  been  done  by  the  persua 
sive  tongue  of  Mr.  Campbell,  who  had  promised  the  President  that 
if  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  could  meet  in  the  halls  of  the  Confed 
erate  Congress  it  would  vote  Virginia  right  back  into  the  Union ; 
that  it  would  be  a  delicate  compliment  paid  to  Virginia  which 
would  be  appreciated,  etc. 

Weitzel  backed  up  Mr.  Campbell,  and  the  President  was  won 
over  to  agree  to  what  would  have  been  a  most  humiliating  thing  if 
it  had  been  accomplished. 

When  the  President  told  me  all  that  had  been  done,  and  that 
General  Weitzel  had  gone  on  shore  with  an  order  in  his  pocket  to 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  THE  LATE  JUSTICE  CAMPBELL.   305 

let  the  Legislature  meet,  I  merely  said  :  "Mr.  President,  I  suppose 
you  remember  that  this  city  is  under  military  jurisdiction,  and  that 
no  courts,  Legislature,  or  civil  authority  can  exercise  any  power 
without  the  sanction  of  the  general  commanding  the  army.  This 
order  of  yours  should  go  through  General  Grant,  who  would  inform 
you  that  Richmond  was  under  martial  law  ;  and  I  am  sure  he  would 
protest  against  this  arrangement  of  Mr.  Campbell's." 

The  President's  common  sense  took  in  the  situation  at  once. 
"Why,"  he  said,  "  Weitzel  made  no  objection,  and  he  commands 
here." 

"  That  is  because  he  is  Mr.  Campbell's  particular  friend,  and 
wished  to  gratify  him ;  besides,  I  don't  think  he  knows  much 
about  anything  but  soldiering.  General  Shepley  would  not  have 
preferred  such  a  request." 

"Run  and  stop  them,"  exclaimed  the  President,  "and  get  my 
order  back  !  Well,  I  came  near  knocking  all  the  fat  into  the  fire, 
didn't  I?" 

To  make  things  sure,  I  had  an  order  written  to  General  Weitzel 
and  signed  by  the  President  as  follows  :  "  Return  my  permission  to 
the  Legislature  of  Virginia  to  meet,  and  don't  allow  it  to  meet  at 
all."  There  was  an  ambulance- wagon  at  the  landing,  and,  giving 
the  order  to  an  officer,  I  said  to  him,  "Jump  into  that  wagon,  and 
kill  the  horse  if  necessary,  but  catch  the  carriage  which  carried 
General  Weitzel  and  Mr.  Campbell,  and  deliver  this  order  to  the 
general." 

The  carriage  was  caught  after  it  reached  the  city.  The  old 
wagon  horse  had  been  a  trotter  in  his  day,  and  went  his  three 
minutes.  The  general  and  Mr.  Campbell  were  surprised.  The 
President's  order  was  sent  back,  and  they  never  returned  to  try  and 
reverse  the  decision. 

Mr.  Campbell  evidently  saw  that  his  scheme  of  trying  to  put 
the  State  Legislature  in  session  with  the  sanction  of  the  President 
had  failed,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  try  it  again.  It  was  a  clever 
dodge  to  soothe  the  wounded  feelings  of  the  South,  and  no  doubt 
was  kindly  meant  by  the  late  Justice  Campbell,  but  what  a  howl  it 
would  have  raised  at  the  North  !  Mr.  Campbell  had  been  gone 
about  an  hour  when  we  had  another  remarkable  scene.  A  man 
appeared  at  the  landing,  dressed  in  gray  homespun,  of  a  somewhat 
decayed  appearance,  and  with  a  staff  about  six  feet  long  in  his 
hand.  It  was,  in  fact,  nothing  more  than  a  stick  taken  from  a 
wood-pile.  It  was  about  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  was  not  even 
20 


306   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

smoothed  at  the  knots.  It  was  just  such  a  weapon  as  a  man  would 
pick  up  to  kill  a  mad  dog  with. 

"  Who  are  you,  and  what  do  you  want  ? "  asked  the  officer  of 
the  deck.  "  You  can  not  come  on  board  unless  you  have  important 
business." 

"I  am  Duff  Green,"  said  the  man.  "I  want  to  see  Abraham 
Lincoln,  and  my  business  concerns  myself  alone.  You  tell  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  Duff  Green  wants  to  see  him." 

The  officer  came  down  into  the  cabin  and  delivered  the  message. 
I  arose  and  said,  "I  will  go  up  and  send  him  away,"  but  the  Presi 
dent  interposed. 

"  Let  him  come  on  board,"  he  said  ;  "Duff  is  an  old  friend  of 
mine,  and  I  would  like  to  talk  to  him." 

I  then  went  on  deck  to  have  a  boat  sent  for  him  and  to  see  what 
kind  of  a  man  this  was  who  sent  off  such  arrogant  messages  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  He  stepped  into  the  boat  as  if  it 
belonged  to  him ;  instead  of  sitting  down  he  stood  up,  leaning  on 
his  long  staff.  When  he  came  over  the  side  he  stood  on  the  deck 
defiantly,  looked  up  at  the  flag  and  scowled,  and  then,  turning  to 
me,  whom  he  knew  very  well,  he  said,  "I  want  to  see  Abraham 
Lincoln."  He  paid  no  courtesy  to  me  or  to  the  quarter  deck. 

It  had  been  a  very  long  time  since  he  had  shaved  or  cut  his 
hair,  and  he  might  have  come  under  the  head  "unkempt  and  not 
canny." 

"When  you  come  in  a  respectful  manner,"  I  said,  "the  Presi 
dent  will  see  you ;  but  throw  away  that  cord  of  wood  you  have  in 
your  hand  before  entering  the  President's  presence." 

"How  long  is  it,"  he  said,  "since  Abraham  Lincoln  took  to 
aping  royalty  ?  Man,  clothed  in  brief  authority,  cuts  such  fantas 
tic  capers  before  high  heaven  as  make  the  angels  weep.  I  can  ex 
pect  airs  from  a  naval  officer,  but  I  don't  expect  them  in  a  man 
with  Abraham  Lincoln's  horse  sense." 

I  thought  the  man  crazy,  and  think  so  still.  "I  can't  permit 
you  to  see  the  President,"  I  said,  "  until  I  receive  further  instruc 
tions  ;  but  you  can't  see  him  at  all  until  you  throw  that  wood-pile 
overboard." 

He  turned  on  his  heel  and  tried  to  throw  the  stick  on  shore,  but 
it  fell  short,  and  went  floating  down  with  the  current. 

"  Ah,"  he  said,  "has  it  come  to  that  ?  Is  he  afraid  of  assassi 
nation  ?  Tyrants  generally  get  into  that  condition." 

I  went  down  and  reported  this  queer  customer  to  the  President, 


VISIT  FROM  DUFF  GREEN.  307 

and  told  him  I  thought  the  man  insane ;  but  he  said,  "  Let  him 
come  down ;  he  always  was  a  little  queer.  I  shaVt  mind 
him." 

Mr.  Duff  Green  was  shown  into  the  cabin. 

The  President  got  up  from  his  chair  to  receive  him,  and,  ap 
proaching,  offered  him  his  hand. 

"  No,"  said  Green,  with  a  tragic  air,  "  it  is  red  with  blood  ;  I 
can't  touch  it.  When  I  knew  it,  it  was  an  honest  hand.  It  has 
cut  the  throats  of  thousands  of  my  people,  and  their  blood,  which 
now  lies  soaking  into  the  ground,  cries  aloud  to  Heaven  for  ven 
geance.  I  came  to  see  you,  not  for  old  remembrance*  sake,  but  to 
give  you  a  piece  of  my  opinion.  You  won't  like  it,  but  I  don't  care, 
for  people  don't  generally  like  to  have  the  truth  told  them.  You 
have  come  here,  protected  by  your  army  and  navy,  to  gloat  over  the 
ruin  and  desolation  you  have  caused.  You  are  a  second  Nero,  and, 
had  you  lived  in  his  day,  you  would  have  fiddled  while  Kome  was 
burning ! " 

When  the  fanatic  commenced  this  tirade  of  abuse  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  standing  with  his  hand  outstretched,  his  mouth  wreathed  with 
the  pleasant  smile  it  almost  always  wore,  and  his  eyes  lighted  up  as 
when  anything  pleased  him.  He  was  pleased  because  about  to  meet 
an  old  and  esteemed  friend,  and  better  pleased  that  this  friend  had 
come  to  see  him  of  his  own  accord. 

The  outstretched  hand  was  gradually  withdrawn  as  Duff  Green 
started  on  his  talk,  the  smile  left  the  President's  lips  as  the  talker 
got  to  the  middle  of  his  harangue,  and  the  softness  of  his  eyes  faded 
out.  He  was  another  man  altogether. 

Had  any  one  closed  his  eyes  after  Duff  Green  commenced  speak 
ing,  and  opened  them  when  he  stopped,  he  would  have  seen  a  per 
fect  transformation.  The  hearer's  slouchy  manner  had  disappeared, 
his  mouth  was  compressed,  his  eyes  were  fixed,  even  his  stature 
appeared  increased. 

Duff  Green  went  on  without  noticing  the  change  in  the  Presi 
dent's  manner  and  appearance.  "  You  came  here,"  he  continued, 
'  to  triumph  over  a  poor,  conquered  town,  with  only  women  and 
children  in  it ;  whose  soldiers  have  left  it,  and  would  rather  starve 
than  see  your  hateful  presence  here ;  those  soldiers — and  only  a 
handful  at  that — who  have  for  four  years  defied  your  paid  merce 
naries  on  those  glorious  hills,  and  have  taught  you  to  respect  the 
rights  of  the  South.  You  have  given  your  best  blood  to  conquer 
them,  and  now  you  will  march  back  to  your  demoralized  capital 


308   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

and  lay  out  your  wits  to  win  them  over  so  that  you  can  hold  this 
Government  in  perpetuity.     Shame  on  you  !    Shame  on — " 

Mr.  Lincoln  could  stand  it  no  longer  ;  his  coarse  hair  stood  on 
end,  and  his  nostrils  dilated  like  those  of  an  excited  race-horse.  He 
stretched  out  his  long  right  arm,  and  extended  his  lean  forefinger 
until  it  almost  touched  Duff  Green's  face.  He  made  one  step  for 
ward,  to  place  himself  as  near  as  possible  to  this  vituperator,  and  in 
a  clear,  cutting  voice  addressed  him.  He  was  really  graceful  while 
he  spoke — with  the  grace  of  one  expressing  his  honest  convictions. 

"Stop,  you  political  tramp," he  exclaimed,  "you,  the  aider  and 
abettor  of  those  who  have  brought  all  this  ruin  upon  your  country, 
without  the  courage  to  risk  your  person  in  defense  of  the  princi 
ples  you  profess  to  espouse  !  A  fellow  who  stood  by  to  gather  up 
the  loaves  and  fishes,  if  any  should  fall  to  you  !  A  man  who  had 
no  principles  in  the  North,  and  took  none  South  with  him  !  A 
political  hyena  who  robbed  the  graves  of  the  dead,  and  adopted 
their  language  as  his  own  !  You  talk  of  the  North  cutting  the 
throats  of  the  Southern  people.  You  have  all  cut  your  own  throats, 
and,  unfortunately,  have  cut  many  of  those  of  the  North.  Miserable 
impostor,  vile  intruder  !  Go,  before  I  forget  myself  and  the  high 
position  I  hold  !  Go,  I  tell  you,  and  don't  desecrate  this  national 
vessel  another  minute  ! "  And  he  made  a  step  toward  him. 

This  was  something  Duff  Green  had  not  calculated  upon ;  he 
had  never  seen  Abraham  Lincoln  in  anger.  His  courage  failed  him, 
and  he  turned  and  fled  out  of  the  cabin  and  up  the  cabin-stairs  as 
if  the  avenging  angel  was  after  him.  He  never  stopped  till  he 
reached  the  gangway,  and  there  he  stood,  looking  at  the  shore, 
seemingly  measuring  the  distance,  to  see  if  he  could  swim  to  the 
landing. 

I  was  close  behind  him,  and  when  I  got  on  deck  I  said  to  the 
officer  in  charge,  "Put  that  man  on  shore,  and  if  he  appears  in 
sight  of  this  vessel  while  we  are  here,  have  him  sent  away  with 
scant  ceremony." 

He  was  as  humble  at  that  moment  as  a  whipped  dog,  and  hur 
ried  into  the  boat  when  ordered. 

The  last  I  saw  of  him  he  was  striding  rapidly  over  the  fields,  as 
if  to  reach  the  shelter  of  the  woods.  "When  I  returned  to  the  cabin, 
about  fifteen  minutes  later,  the  President  was  perfectly  calm — as  if 
nothing  had  happened — and  did  not  revert  to  the  subject  for  some 
hours. 

"  This  place  seems  to  give  you  annoyance,  sir,"  I  said.    "  Would 


STEAMING  DOWN   THE   RIVER.  309 

you  prefer  to  get  under  way  and  go  to  City  Point,  where  we  are 
more  among  friends  than  here  ?  " 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "let  us  go.  I  seem  to  be  'putting  my 
foot  into  it '  here  all  the  time.  Bless  my  soul,  how  Seward  would 
have  preached,  and  read  Puffendorf,  Vattel,  and  Grotius  to  me,  if 
he  had  been  here  when  I  gave  Campbell  permission  to  let  the  Legis 
lature  meet  !  I'd  never  have  heard  the  last  of  it.  Seward  is  a  small 
compendium  of  international  law  himself,  and  laughs  at  my  '  horse 
sense,'  which  I  pride  myself  on,  and  yet  I  put  my  foot  into  that 
thing  about  Campbell  with  my  eyes  wide  open.  If  I  were  you,  I 
don't  think  I  would  repeat  that  joke  yet  awhile.  People  might 
laugh  at  you  for  knowing  so  much,  and  more  than  the  President ! 
I  am  afraid  that  the  most  of  my  learning  lies  in  my  heart  more 
than  in  my  head." 

We  got  under  way  and  steamed  down  the  river.  While  we  had 
been  up  afc  Richmond  the  gun-boat  people  had  completed  the 
removal  of  the  torpedoes  from  the  river-bed  and  laid  them  all  out 
on  the  banks,  where  they  looked  like  so  many  queer  fish  basking  in 
the  sun,  of  all  sizes  and  shapes. 

The  President  had  originally  proposed  to  come  up  on  horseback, 
but  I  told  him  that  "there  was  not  a  particle  of  danger  from  tor 
pedoes  ;  that  I  would  have  them  all  taken  up."  When  he  saw 
them  all  on  the  bank  he  turned  to  me  and  said,  "  You  must  have 
been  '  awful  afraid '  of  getting  on  that  sergeant's  old  horse  again  to 
risk  all  this."  We  got  down  safe,  however  ;  there  was  not  enough 
danger  to  make  it  interesting.  The  President  had  some  quaint 
remarks  about  everything  we  saw,  particularly  about  Dutch  Gap, 
which,  he  said,  "  ought  to  have  been  commenced  before  the  war — 
at  least  ten  years.  Then,"  he  said,  "  you  might  have  had  a  chance 
of  getting  your  gun-boats  up  that  way.  By  the  way,  your  friend 
the  general  wasn't  a  '  boss '  engineer.  He  was  better  at  running 
cotton-mills.  How  many  people  did  it  cost  for  that  jetty  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"One  hundred  and  forty  killed  there  as  far  as  I  can  learn,"  I 
answered. 

Then  he  went  into  a  discussion  of  the  generals  of  the  war — what 
difficulties  he  had  in  making  appointments,  etc.  He  illustrated 
each  case  with  a  story.  In  speaking  of  one  general,  he  said  it  re 
minded  him  of  a  friend  of  his — a  blacksmith — he  knew  out  in  the 
West  when  he  was  a  boatman. 

This  old  friend  was  celebrated  for  making  good  work,  especially 


310   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

axes,  which  were  in  great  demand  at  that  day.  No  boatman  had  a 
complete  outfit  unless  he  had  a  good  axe. 

"One  day  he  said  to  me,  'Lincoln,  I  have  the  finest  piece  of 
steel  you  ever  saw ;  I  got  it  on  purpose  to  make  an  axe  for  you, 
and  if  you  will  sit  down  and  tell  me  a  good  story  you  shall  have 
the  axe  when  it  is  finished.'  'Go  ahead/  I  said,  and  I  sat  down 
to  tell  the  story  while  he  made  the  axe. 

"  My  friend  the  blacksmith  first  put  on  a  huge  piece  of  fresh 
coal,  and  blew  it  up  until  it  was  at  a  proper  heat — the  coals  glow 
ing  ;  he  took  up  the  piece  of  steel  and  looked  at  it  affectionate 
ly,  patted  it  all  over,  then,  'Lincoln,'  he  said,  'did  you  ever  see 
a  piece  of  steel  equal  to  that  ?  It'll  make  you  a  companion  you 
will  never  want  to  part  with,  and  when  you  are  using  it  you  will 
think  of  me.'  Then  he  put  it  into  the  fire,  and  began  to  work  his 
bellows  while  I  commenced  my  story. 

"  He  blew  and  blew  until  the  steel  was  at  a  deep-red  heat,  when, 
taking  it  out  of  the  fire  and  laying  it  on  the  anvil,  he  gave  it  a  clip 
with  a  four-pound  hammer.  Lord  bless  you,  how  the  sparks  flew, 
and  the  big  red  scales  also  !  The  blacksmith  hit  it  about  a  dozen 
blows  and  then  stopped.  '  Lincoln,'  he  said,  '  here's  a  go,  and  a 
bad  one  too.  This  lump  of  steel  ain't  worth  the  powder  that  would 
blow  it  up.  I  never  was  so  deceived  in  anything  in  all  my  life.  It 
won't  make  an  axe.  But  I'll  tell  you  what  it  will  make.  It  will 
make  a  clevis,'  and  he  put  it  in  the  fire  again  and  went  through  the 
same  performance  as  before.  Then,  when  it  was  heated,  he  laid  it 
on  the  anvil  and  commenced  to  hammer  it.  The  sparks  flew,  and 
so  did  the  scales,  and  in  a  minute  half  of  it  was  gone.  The  black 
smith  stopped  and  scratched  his  head,  as  men  often  do  under  diffi 
culties.  'Well,'  he  said,  'this  certainly  is  an  onery  piece  of  steel, 
but  it  may  get  better  nearer  the  heart  of  it.  I  can't  make  a  clevis 
of  it,  but  it  will  make  a  clevis-bolt.  It  may  have  some  good  in  it 
yet.  After  all,  a  good  clevis-bolt  is  not  a  bad  thing.' 

"  He  put  it  into  the  fire  again,  and  this  time  got  it  to  a  white 
heat.  '  I  think  I  have  it  now,  Lincoln,'  and  he  pounded  away  at 
it  until  I  was  almost  blinded  with  scales. 

"  '  This  won't  do,'  he  said.  '  I  certainly  don't  know  my  trade 
to  allow  a  thing  like  that  to  fool  me  so.  Well,  well,  it  won't 
make  a  clevis-bolt,  but  I  have  one  resort  yet ;  it  will  make  a  ten- 
penny  nail.  You  will  have  to  wait  for  your  axe,'  and  he  put  the 
metal  into  the  fire  again. 

"  This  time  he  didn't  blow  it ;  he  let  it  get  red-hot  natu- 


A   GENERAL  WHO  WENT   OFF   IN   A   FIZZLE.         3H 

rally,  and  when  it  was  as  he  wanted  it,  he  put  it  on  the  anvil 
again. 

"  '  This/  he  said,  *  is  a  sure  thing.  I  am  down  to  the  heart  of 
the  piece.  There  must  be  a  ten-penny  nail  in  this.'  But  he  was 
mistaken  ;  there  was  only  a  small  piece  of  wire  left.  He  was  actu 
ally  dazed. 

"  'Dura  the  thing,'  he  said.  'I  don't  know  what  to  make  of 
it.  I  tried  it  as  an  axe,  it  failed  me.  Then  it  failed  me  as  a  clevis. 
It  failed  me  as  a  clevis-bolt,  and  the  cussed  thing  wouldn't  even 
make  a  ten-penny  nail ! ' 

"  '  But  I'll  tell  you,  old  fellow,  what  it  will  make,'  and  he  put 
it  into  the  fire  again  until  it  and  the  tongs  were  at  white  heat 
Then,  turning  around,  he  rammed  it  into  a  bucket  of  water. 
'There,  durn  you,  you'll  make  a  big  fizzle,  and  that's  all  you  will 
make  1 '  and  it  sputtered  and  fizzed  until  it  went  out,  and  there 
was  nothing  of  it  left. 

"Now  that's  the  case  with  the  person  I  was  speaking  of,"  con 
tinued  the  President.  "I  tried  him  as  an  axe.  I  tried  him  as  a 
clevis.  He  was  so  full  of  shakes  he  wouldn't  work  into  one.  I 
tried  him  as  a  clevis-bolt.  He  was  a  dead  failure,  and  he  wouldn't 
make  even  a  ten-penny  nail.  But  he  did  make  the  biggest  fizzle 
that  has  been  made  this  war,  and  fizzled  himself  out  of  the  army. 

"  '  With  a  shocking  bad  name, 

And  his  credit  at  zero, 

He  was  contented  to  stay 

At  home  as  a  hero  !  '  " 

We  anchored  a  short  time  afterward,  and  were  glad  to  be  look 
ing  on  the  quiet  wharves  at  City  Point. 

That  evening  the  sailors  and  marines  were  sent  out  to  guard 
and  escort  in  some  prisoners,  numbering  about  a  thousand,  more 
or  less,  who  were  placed  on  board  a  large  transport  lying  in  the 
stream. 

The  President  expressing  a  desire  to  go  on  shore,  I  ordered  the 
barge  and  went  with  him. 

We  had  to  pass  the  transport  with  the  ^prisoners  ;  they  all 
rushed  to  the  side  with  eager  curiosity  ;  all  wanted  to  see  the 
Northern  President. 

They  seemed  perfectly  content ;  every  man  had  a  hunk  of  meat 
and  a  piece  of  bread  in  his  hand,  and  was  doing  his  best  to  dispose 
of  it.  ' 


312   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"That's  old  Abe,"  said  one  of  them.  "Give  the  old  fellow 
three  cheers,"  said  another ;  while  a  third  called  out,  "  Halloo,  Abe, 
your  bread  and  meat's  better  than  pop-corn." 

This  was  all  good-natured  and  kindly.  I  could  see  no  difference 
between  them  and  our  own  men,  except  that  they  were  ragged  and 
attenuated  from  want  of  wholesome  food.  They  were  as  happy  a 
set  of  men  as  I  ever  saw ;  they  could  see  their  homes  looming  up 
before  them  in  the  distance,  and  knew  the  war  was  over. 

"  They  will  never  shoulder  a  musket  again  in  anger,"  said  the 
President,  "  and  if  Grant  is  wise  he  will  leave  them  their  guns  to 
shoot  crows  with,  and  their  horses  to  plow  with ;  it  would  do  no 
harm." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

GENERAL  SHERMAN  ARRIVES  AT  GOLDSBORO' — SHERMAN  CALLS 
ON  THE  PRESIDENT — COUNCIL  ON  BOARD  THE  RIVER  QUEEN — 
PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  KIND  INTENTIONS  TOWARD  THE  CONFED 
ERATE  ARMIES — LET  THEM  HAVE  THEIR  HORSES  TO  PLOW  WITH, 
AND  THEIR  MUSKETS  TO  SHOOT  CROWS  WITH — "  THERE  ARE 
NO  SOUTHERN  RAILROADS  ;  MY  BUMMERS  HAVE  TAKEN  THEM 
ALL  UP" — WHY  SUCH  A  HOWL  AT  THE  NORTH — LEE  SURREN 
DERS—THE  PRESIDENT  RETURNS  TO  WASHINGTON— SEND  OFFI 
CERS  WITH  HIM  TO  PROTECT  HIS  PERSON — HIS  DEATH — THERE 
LIES  THE  BEST  MAN  I  EVER  KNEW. 

I  MUST  now  go  back  a  little. 

While  General  Grant  was  preparing  to  march  and  surround  Gen 
eral  Lee  at  Eichmond,  Sherman  was  coming  rapidly  with  all  his 
veterans  toward  Goldsboro',  North  Carolina,  which  place  he  reached 
on  the  21st  of  March,  1865.  There  he  effected  a  junction  with  the 
forces  of  Generals  Schofield  and  Terry,  which  had  come  up  from 
Wilmington.  This  combination  gave  Sherman  an  effective  force 
of  at  least  eighty  thousand  men. 

When  Sherman  arrived  at  Goldsboro'  his  army  was  literally  with 
out  clothes  and  very  short  of  provisions.  It  was  necessary  that 
they  should  be  supplied  at  once,  and  it  was  so  important  that  he 
should  see  General  Grant  and  ascertain  the  exact  position  that  he 
determined  to  come  to  City  Point.  The  President  also  desired  to 


COUNCIL  ON  BOARD  THE  RIVER  QUEEN.     313 

see  him  at  that  place,  and  I  think  General  Grant  sent  him  a  com 
munication  to  that  effect. 

Leaving  General  Schofield  in  command  of  the  army,  Sherman 
took  the  small  steamer  Russia  from  Morehead  City  and  proceeded 
in  her  to  City  Point,  arriving  on  March  27th.  He  was  received  on 
board  the  River  Queen  by  the  President  with  that  warmth  of  feel 
ing  which  always  distinguished  him  when  meeting  any  of  the  brave 
men  who  had  devoted  their  lives  to  crushing  out  the  great  Rebel 
lion. 

General  Sherman  spent  a  long  time  with  the  President,  explain 
ing  to  him  the  situation  in  his  department,  which  was  very  encour 
aging. 

At  this  moment  Sherman's  army  was  holding  General  Joe  John 
ston's  forces  in  North  Carolina  in  a  position  from  which  he  could 
not  move  without  precipitating  a  battle  with  some  eighty  thousand 
of  the  best  troops  in  our  army.  It  was  thought  at  that  time  that 
Johnston  would  endeavor  to  make  a  junction  with  General  Lee  at 
Richmond,  which,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  would  have 
been  an  impossibility.  Again,  it  was  thought  that  Lee  would 
attempt  to  escape  from  Richmond  and  try  to  effect  a  junction  with 
Johnston.  Quite  as  impossible  as  the  other  move,  for  at  that  mo 
ment  Sheridan  was  pushing  his  cavalry  across  the  James  River 
from  North  to  South,  and  with  this  cavalry  intended  to  extend  his 
left  below  Petersburg  so  as  to  meet  the  South  Shore  road,  and,  if 
Lee  should  leave  his  fortified  lines,  Grant  would  fall  on  his  rear  and 
follow  him  so  closely  that  he  could  not  possibly  fall  on  Sherman's 
army  in  North  Carolina,  besides  which  Sherman  felt  confident  that 
with  his  eighty  thousand  men  he  could  hold  his  own  against  John 
ston  and  Lee  combined  until  Grant  came  up  with  the  Army  of  the 
James. 

The  morning  after  Sherman's  arrival  the  President  held  a  coun 
cil  on  board  the  River  Queen,  composed  of  General  Grant,  General 
Sherman,  and  myself,  and,  as  considerable  controversy  was  caused 
by  the  terms  of  surrender  granted  to  General  Joe  Johnston,  I  will 
mention  here  the  conversation  which  took  place  during  this  meet 
ing  in  the  River  Queen's  cabin. 

I  made  it  a  rule  during  the  war  to  write  down  at  night  before 
retiring  to  rest  what  had  occurred  during  each  day,  and  I  was  par 
ticularly  careful  in  doing  so  in  this  instance. 

At  this  meeting  Mr.  Lincoln  and  General  Sherman  were  the 
speakers,  and  the  former  declared  his  opinions  at  length  before 


314:  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

Sherman  answered  him.  The  President  feared  that  Lee — seeing 
our  lines  closing  about  him,  the  coast  completely  blockaded,  his 
troops  almost  destitute  of  clothing  and  short  of  provisions — might 
make  an  attempt  to  break  away  from  the  fortified  works  at  Rich- 
mond,  make  a  junction  with  General  Joe  Johnston,  and  escape 
South  or  fight  a  last  bloody  battle. 

Any  one  looking  at  the  situation  of  the  armies  at  that  time  will 
see  that  such  an  attempt  would  not  have  been  possible. 

Sherman  had  eighty  thousand  fine  troops  at  Goldsboro',  only 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Richmond  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  from  Green sborough,  which  latter  place  cut  the  Rich- 
mond  and  Danville  Railroad,  the  only  one  by  which  Lee  could 


The  President's  mind  was  made  easy  on  this  score,  yet  it  was 
remarkable  how  many  shrewd  questions  he  asked  on  the  subject, 
and  how  difficult  some  of  them  were  to  answer.  He  stated  his 
views  in  regard  to  what  he  desired  ;  he  felt  sure,  as  did  every  one 
at  that  council,  that  the  end  of  the  war  was  near  at  hand ;  and, 
though  some  thought  a  bloody  battle  was  impending,  all  thought 
that  Richmond  would  fall  in  less  than  a  week. 

He  wanted  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate  armies,  and  desired 
that  the  most  liberal  terms  should  be  granted  them.  "  Let  them 
once  surrender,"  he  said,  "and  reach  their  homes,  they  won't  take 
up  arms  again.  Let  them  all  go,  officers  and  all.  I  want  submis 
sion,  and  no  more  bloodshed.  Let  them  have  their  horses  to  plow 
with,  and,  if  you  like,  their  guns  to  shoot  crows  with.  I  want  no 
one  punished  ;  treat  them  liberally  all  round.  We  want  those  peo 
ple  to  return  to  their  allegiance  to  the  Union  and  submit  to  the 
laws.  Again  I  say,  give  them  the  most  liberal  and  honorable  terms." 

"But,  Mr.  President,"  said  Sherman,  "I  can  dictate  my  own 
terms  to  General  Johnston.  All  I  want  is  two  weeks'  time  to  fit 
out  my  men  with  shoes  and  clothes,  and  I  will  be  ready  to  march 
upon  Johnston  and  compel  him  to  surrender ;  he  is  short  of  cloth 
ing,  and  in  two  weeks  he  would  have  no  provisions  at  all." 

"And,"  added  the  President,  "two  weeks  is  an  age,  and  the 
first  thing  you  will  know  General  Johnston  will  be  off  South  again 
with  those  hardy  troops  of  his,  and  will  keep  the  war  going  indefi 
nitely.  No,  General,  he  must  not  get  away  ;  we  must  have  his  sur 
render  at  all  hazards,  so  don't  be  hard  on  him  about  terms.  Yes, 
he  will  get  away  if  he  can,  and  you  will  never  catch  him  until  after 
miles  of  travel  and  many  bloody  battles." 


LINCOLN'S    KIND   INTENTIONS.  315 

"Mr.  President,"  said  Sherman,  "there  is  no  possible  way  of 
General  Johnston's  escaping  ;  he  is  my  property  as  he  is  now  situ 
ated,  and  I  can  demand  an  unconditional  surrender  ;  he  can't 
escape." 

"  What  is  to  prevent  him  from  escaping  with  all  his  army  by 
the  Southern  railroads  while  you  are  fitting  out  your  men  ?  "  asked 
Grant. 

"Because,"  answered  Sherman,  "there  are  no  Southern  rail 
roads  to  speak  of ;  my  bummers  have  broken  up  the  roads  in  sec 
tions  all  behind  us— and  they  did  it  well." 

"  But,"  said  Grant,  "can't  they  relay  the  rails,  the  same  as  you 
did  the  other  day,  from  Newbern  and  Wilmington  to  Goldsboro'  ?" 

Sherman  laughed.  "Why,  no,"  he  said,  "my  boys  don't  do 
things  by  halves.  When  they  tore  up  the  rails  they  put  them  over 
hot  fires  made  from  the  ties,  and  then  twisted  them  more  crooked 
than  a  ram's  horn.  All  the  blacksmiths  in  the  South  could  not 
straighten  them  out." 

"Mr.  President,"  said  Sherman,  turning  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  "the 
Confederacy  has  gone  up,  or  will  go  up.  We  hold  all  the  line  be 
tween  Wilmington  and  Goldsboro',  where  my  troops  are  now  fitting 
out  from  the  transports.  My  transports  can  come  up  the  Neuse 
Eiver  as  far  as  Newbern.  We  could  flood  the  South  with  troops 
and  provisions  without  hindrance.  We  hold  the  situation,  and 
General  Johnston  can  surrender  to  me  on  my  own  terms." 

"All  very  well,"  said  the  President,  "but  we  must  have  no 
mistakes,  and  my  way  is  a  sure  way.  Offer  Johnston  the  same 
terms  that  will  be  offered  to  Lee  ;  then,  if  he  is  defiant,  and  will  not 
accept  them,  try  your  plan.  But  as  long  as  the  Confederate  armies 
lay  down  their  arms,  I  don't  think  it  matters  much  how  it  is  done. 
Only  don't  let  us  have  any  more  bloodshed  if  it  can  be  avoided. 
General  Grant  is  for  giving  Lee  the  most  favorable  terms." 

To  this  General  Grant  assented. 

"Well,  Mr.  President,"  said  Sherman,  "I  will  carry  out  your 
wishes  to  the  letter,  and  I  am  quite  satisfied  that,  as  soon  as  Kich- 
mond  falls,  Joe  Johnston  will  surrender  also." 

Sherman,  at  the  end  of  that  council,  supposed  he  was  acting 
under  instructions,  which  he  carried  out,  so  far  as  I  can  understand 
it,  pretty  much  as  the  President  desired. 

The  council  over,  and  the  President  being  desirous  that  General 
Sherman  should  return  to  his  command  as  soon  as  possible,  the 
latter  determined  to  return  that  afternoon  by  sea. 


316   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

I  gave  him  the  naval  steamer  Bat  to  take  him  back  again  to  his 
post — a  vessel  that  could  make  sixteen  knots  an  hour — and  he  was 
soon  at  his  headquarters. 

I  shall  never  forget  that  council  which  met  on  board  the  Eiver 
Queen.  On  the  determinations  adopted  there  depended  peace,  or  a 
continuation  of  the  war  with  its  attendant  horrors.  That  council 
has  been  illustrated  in  a  fine  painting  by  Mr.  Healy,  the  artist,  who, 
in  casting  about  for  the  subject  of  an  historical  picture,  hit  upon 
this  interview,  which  really  was  an  occasion  upon  which  depended 
whether  or  not  the  war  would  be  continued  a  year  longer.  A  single 
false  step  might  have  prolonged  it  indefinitely. 

Even  at  the  last,  when  the  Confederates  were  known  to  be  in 
most  straitened  circumstances — without  food  and  clothing  for  their 
troops  or  forage  for  their  animals,  short  at  the  same  time  of  am 
munition,  without  which  their  armies  were  useless — they  had 
powerful  forces  in  and  about  Eichmond,  which,  if  once  united  with 
General  Johnston's  army,  would  have  made  a  most  formidable 
array.  Eighty  thousand  men,  handled  by  such  men  as  General 
Lee  and  General  Johnston,  would  have  been  a  hard  army  to  beat. 
We  had  had  so  many  proofs  during  the  war  of  the  ability  of  those 
generals  and  soldiers  to  hold  their  own  against  superior  numbers, 
that  we  knew  very  well  what  they  could  and  would  do  when  driven 
to  desperation. 

Though  seemingly  brought  to  the  end  of  their  tether,  they  were 
still  able  to  fight  one  more  bloody  battle — so  bloody  that  it  would 
have  brought  sorrow  to  the  hearthstones  of  very  many  thousands, 
North  and  South. 

Mr.  Lincoln  saw  all  this  ;  he  often  talked  to  me  about  it,  and 
when  he  came  to  City  Point  it  was  with  the  intention  to  bring 
about  a  peace,  even  if  he  had  to  waive  some  point  to  the  Confederate 
generals. 

The  kindness  of  his  intentions  was  shown  when  he  agreed  to  the 
late  Justice  Campbell's  proposition  to  allow  the  Virginia  Legisla 
ture  to  convene  in  the  State-House  at  Richmond,  as  related  in  the 
last  chapter. 

Another  proof  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  determination  to  bring  about 
peace  was  that  he  would  not  permit  any  member  of  his  Cabinet  to 
join  him  at  City  Point. 

Mr.  Seward  telegraphed  several  times  to  the  President  for  an 
invitation  to  visit  him  at  that  place,  with  other  members  of  the 
Cabinet ;  but  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  each  and  every  occasion,  positively 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'S   HUMANITY.  317 

declined  to  have  them  come  there.  He  had  his  own  views,  and  de 
termined  to  carry  them  out,  unhampered  by  the  opinions  of  his 
advisers. 

General  Grant  and  the  President  were  in  perfect  accord  in  all 
matters  relating  to  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate  forces  ;  for, 
while  the  latter  had  the  most  implicit  faith  in  General  Grant's 
ability  as  a  leader  of  armies,  he  had  also  great  confidence  in  his 
good  judgment  and  humane  feelings. 

Grant's  most  generous  treatment  of  the  Confederate  army  at 
Vicksburg,  after  its  surrender,  satisfied  the  President  that  he  would 
be  equally  generous  to  Generals  Lee  and  Johnston.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  General  Grant  shared  the  convictions  of  the  President, 
that  we  should  deal  with  the  Confederates  in  the  most  generous 
manner  and  thereby  bring  about  a  lasting  peace. 

I  was  present  almost  always  at  the  interviews  between  the  Presi 
dent  and  General  Grant,  and,  though  the  former  did  most  of  the 
talking,  General  Grant  agreed  with  him  in  his  views  of  the  situation. 

Thus  it  was  that  Sherman,  after  his  interview  with  the  Presi 
dent  on  board  the  Eiver  Queen,  became  impressed  with  the  latter's 
desire  to  terminate  hostilities  without  further  bloodshed,  and  that 
the  most  liberal  terms  should  be  conceded  to  his  opponents. 

Why  it  was  that  such  a  howl  was  sent  up  at  the  North  when 
General  Sherman  entered  into  an  agreement  with  General  Johnston 
I  don't  know,  especially  as  that  agreement  was  to  be  submitted  to 
the  Government  for  confirmation. 

There  are  points  in  those  terms  of  capitulation  which,  it  seems 
to  me,  should  only  have  been  decided  upon  by  the  Government  itself, 
which,  it  will  be  perceived,  is  what  General  Sherman  intended  in 
the  agreement  drawn  up  between  him  and  General  Johnston.  He 
had  been  so  impressed  with  the  President's  views  of  concluding  a 
peace  that  he  desired  only  to  carry  out — after  his  death — what  he 
supposed  to  be  his  policy,  and  which,  if  living,  he  felt  certain  Mr. 
Lincoln  would  have  approved. 

At  least  he  would  have  considered  it,  and  would  not  have 
"rejected  it  with  the  disdain"  exhibited  by  the  new  President, 
Andrew  Johnson,  through  his  Secretary  of  War,  Edwin  M.  Stanton. 

It  seemed  to  be  the  policy  of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  lose  no 
opportunity  to  throw  a  stone  at  those  who  had  made  themselves 
prominent  in  the  Rebellion.  Even  if  Sherman  had  made  a  mistake, 
his  great  services  entitled  him  to  better  treatment  than  he  received 
at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Stanton. 


318   INCIDENTS   AND    ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

How  deeply  he  felt  this  treatment  was  shown  when  he  arrived 
in  Washington  with  his  troops,  and  was  invited  upon  the  platform 
whence  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  were  reviewing  them.  He 
deliberately  refused  to  take  Stanton's  hand  when  the  secretary 
stepped  forward  to  greet  him. 

It  is  now  twenty  years  since  the  interesting  events  referred  to 
took  place ;  most  of  the  actors  in  those  scenes  have  gone  to  their 
final  resting  places.  The  passions  which  animated  men  in  high 
places  have  died  out,  but  Grant  and  Sherman  still  live,  and  are 
gratefully  remembered  by  their  countrymen  for  the  invaluable  ser 
vices  they  rendered  during  the  most  trying  times  of  the  Republic's 
existence. 

After  the  surrender  of  General  Lee,  the  President,  being  satisfied 
that  everything  would  be  settled  according  to  his  wishes,  deter 
mined  to  go  to  Washington,  and  I  was  only  too  glad  to  have  him 
go.  I  had  a  strong  feeling  that  something  would  happen  to  him  if 
he  remained  longer  at  City  Point.  I  was  so  anxious  about  him 
that  I  obtained  his  permission  to  send  an  officer  up  with  him,  who 
was  never  to  leave  his  side.  For  this  purpose  I  detailed  Lieutenant- 
Commander  John  Barnes  (the  commander  of  the  Bat)  to  go  on 
board  the  River  Queen,  and  never  to  leave  the  President's  side, 
even  at  meals.  If  I  remember  rightly,  I  also  sent  two  ensigns,  who 
were  to  keep  watch  over  his  state-room  at  night.  Directions  were 
given  to  have  the  River  Queen  thoroughly  searched  before  she 
started,  to  see  if  there  were  any  strange  men  on  board,  and  to 
arrest  and  confine  any  strangers  who  might  be  found  on  the  vessel 
during  the  passage  up.  In  fact,  no  precaution  was  omitted  that 
would  insure  the  President  against  violence. 

The  Bat,  as  already  stated,  was  a  very  fast  vessel.  I  directed 
Lieutenant-Commander  Barnes  to  have  her  run  close  alongside  the 
River  Queen  all  the  way  up  to  Washington,  and  to  have  her  ready 
to  render  assistance  in  case  of  necessity.  I  had  not  forgotten  how 
the  Greyhound  had  burned  up,  and  how  near  we  had  all  come  to 
being  badly  burned,  or  having  to  swim  for  it. 

Barnes  was  further  ordered  to  be  armed  at  all  times,  night  and 
day,  and  to  hold  his  position  of  guard  to  the  President  until  he 
landed  him  safe  in  the  White  House. 

This  duty  was  performed  most  effectually  and  agreeably  to  the 
President,  who  felt  very  much  pleased  to  have  Barnes  about  him, 
and  made  him  sit  near  him  at  all  his  meals. 

As  soon  as  the  President  had  arrived  safely  at  the  White  House, 


PRESIDENT   LINCOLN'S  ASSASSINATION.  319 

Barnes  returned  to  me.  I  still  felt  uneasy,  and  determined  to  go 
to  Washington  myself  and  see  that  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  expose 
himself  to  the  attacks  of  assassins. 

I  jumped  on  board  the  Tristram  Shandy,  and  directed  her  com 
mander  to  put  on  all  steam  and  land  me  in  Baltimore,  thinking  I 
could  get  to  Washington  sooner  by  that  route.  We  arrived  early 
in  the  morning,  and  I  sent  a  mate  on  shore  at  once  to  get  me  a 
conveyance  to  the  depot.  The  mate  returned  in  about  twenty 
minutes.  His  ghastly  face  told  an  awful  tale  ;  he  could  not  speak 
when  he  came  into  the  cabin,  but  fell  upon  the  sofa  and  shook  like 
an  aspen-leaf. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Be  a  man  and  tell 
me ;  is  the  President  dead  ? "  My  prophetic  soul  told  me  that 
must  be  so.  It  was  some  time  before  the  man  could  speak.  At 
length  he  stammered  out,  "Assassinated  !"  and  then  I  knew  I  had 
come  too  late.  I  might,  perhaps,  have  saved  his  life  with  my  per 
sistent  precautions,  which  he  did  not  at  all  object  to.  I  should 
have  been  about  him  until  all  excitement  was  over,  and  would  have 
impressed  the  Cabinet  with  the  necessity  of  guarding  his  person.  I 
am  not  now,  and  never  have  been,  given  to  great  emotions  ;  but  when 
I  heard  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  cruel  death  I  was  completely  unmanned. 
I  went  immediately  to  Washington  and  saw  him  as  he  lay  in  his 
grave-clothes ;  the  same  benevolent  face  was  there,  but  the  kindly 
smile  had  departed  from  his  lips,  and  the  soft,  gentle  eyes  were 
closed  for  ever. 

"There,"  I  said  to  a  friend,  "lies  the  best  man  I  ever  knew  or 
ever  expect  to  know ;  he  was  just  to  all  men,  and  his  heart  was 
full  to  overflowing  with  kindness  toward  those  who  accomplished  his 
death."  I  have  been  satisfied  that  the  persons  who  called  at  the 
Malvern  were  some  of  the  assassins  who  would  have  killed  him 
there  if  they  could  have  got  on  board,  and  they  could  easily  have 
escaped  in  the  confusion  by  jumping  overboard  and  swimming  to 
the  shore,  which  was  not  more  than  twenty  yards  distant.  More 
over,  I  do  not  think  that  the  prime  instigator  of  the  deed  was 
ever  suspected,  though  I  have  my  own  opinion  on  the  subject,  as 
also  had  Senator  Nye,  that  stanch  old  patriot  who  held,  in  the  lat 
ter  part  of  the  war,  a  position  somewhat  analogous  to  that  of  a 
minister  of  police,  or  was  in  consultation,  by  the  wish  of  President 
Lincoln,  with  the  police  authorities  of  our  great  cities.  He  picked 
up  many  interesting  incidents  in  relation  to  the  President's  assas 
sination  which  he  talked  about  freely  to  me  ;  but  he  was  a  prudent 


320   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

man,  and  a  politician,  and  did  not  desire  to  raise  questions  which 
might  affect  his  personal  interests  in  the  future. 

Perhaps  it  was  better  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  happiness  that  he  died 
when  he  did.  Had  he  lived,  he  would  likely  have  been  involved 
in  bitter  political  feuds,  owing  to  his  liberal  opinions  in  regard  to 
the  reconstruction  of  the  States.  He  was  of  too  sensitive  a  nature 
not  to  feel  the  shafts  that  would  have  been  hurled  at  him  by  those 
whom  he  thought  to  be  his  friends,  and  he  would  not  likely  have 
been  permitted  to  carry  out  his  ideas.  As  it  was,  he  died  a  martyr 
to  a  great  cause,  and  venerated  by  all  those  who  loved  the  Union  ; 
and  while  the  names  of  many  who  held  high  places  in  the  State 
will  be  forgotten,  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln  will  live  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen  while  the  art  of  printing  exists — by  which 
his  name  can  be  handed  down  to  posterity. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  following  story  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  the 
admiral's  coxswain,  and  is  founded  on  facts.  It  is  somewhat  em 
bellished,  as  a  tale  of  this  kind  would  naturally  be  when  related  by 
a  coxswain,  since  persons  in  that  rating  are  apt  to  be  afflicted  with 
lively  imaginations  : 

COKPOBAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG. 

I  was  serving  on  the  Lakes  during  the  war  when  a  call  came 
from  the  Mississippi  squadron  for  some  blue-jackets.  Me  and  some 
other  sailors  determined  to  ship,  so  we  met  together  and  took  a  few 
schooners  all  round. 

At  the  rendezvous  we  found  an  old  retired  sailing  master  in  the 
nayy,  Mr.  Handspike,  sitting  under  a  tree  with  his  coat  off,  trying 
to  keep  cool,  and  an  old  civilian  doctor  following  his  example. 

We  were  the  first  chaps  that  had  offered,  and  old  Handspike's 
eyes  glistened  as  he  looked  at  the  chance  of  hooking  three  likely- 
looking  chaps,  although  I  rather  shook  in  my  shoes  when  he  eyed 
my  short  leg. 

"  Never  mind 'my  leg,  sir,"  I  said.  "I  am  good  at  beating  to 
windward  in  making  a  long  and  short  leg  of  it,  though  I  can't  sail 
fast  off  the  wind." 


CORPORAL   FOSTER   AND   HIS   DOG.  321 

"Well," said  old  Handspike,  "what can  you  do,  Jack,  on  board 
a  man-o'-war  ?  " 

"Sir,"  says  I,  "I  can  hand,  reef,  and  steer,  box  the  compass, 
heave  the  lead,  and  make  all  the  hitches  and  bends  in  creation." 

" Ah,"  says  he,  "we  don't  want  none  of  those  things  in  the  Mis 
sissippi  navy.  Can  you  catch  sheet  lightning  as  it  goes  by  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  I  said,  "  and  give  it  a  start  of  one  hundred  yards." 

"  Can  you  slide  down  a  water-spout,  Jack  ?  "  said  the  old  man. 
"  Dive  deeper  and  come  up  drier  than  a  mermaid  ?  Can  you  timber- 
hitch  two  catamounts  together,  can  you  swim  across  Niagara  River 
heading  up  stream,  can  you  clove-hitch  a  stern-wheel  boat's  shaft 
to  a  cotton-wood  tree,  and  can  you  skin  a  live  alligator  with  your 
teeth  ?  for  them's  the  kind  of  boys  we  want  in  the  Mississippi 
squadron,  and  we  wants  lots  of  'em." 

"Yes,  sir,"  says  I,  "I  can  do  all  that,  and  more  too ;  but  my 
name  ain't  Jack ;  it's  Jim  Blazes,  from  Ocrakoke  Inlet,  at  your 
service,  and  I'm  just  the  fellow  you  want  in  the  navy  to  set  a  tor 
pedo  under  the  bottom  of  an  enemy's  vessel." 

"How  will  you  prove  all  that,  Jim  Blazes?"  said  old  Hand 
spike  ;  "  it  strikes  me  you're  pulling  rather  a  long  bowline." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  I,  "here's  Jack  Tiller  and  Joe  Easty ;  they'll 
swear  to  it  on  'Bowditch's  Navigator,'  and  if  you'll  write  to  Ned 
Blinker,  on  board  the  ironclad  My-Aunt-don't-know-Me,  he'll 
tell  you  he's  seen  me  do  all  I  brag  of  often's  the  time.  Ned  and 
me  sailed  together  three  voyages ;  he  knows  all  about  me ;  but  so 
does  Jack  Tiller  here  ;  he's  truth  itself." 

"  Looks  like  it  wastly,"  said  old  Handspike.  "  Well,  Jack  Til 
ler,  what  can  you  vouch  for  ?  " 

"I  don't  exactly  know,  sir,  what  pint  of  the  compass  that  is," 
said  Jack  ;  "but  this  I  do  know  :  Jim  Blazes  is  as  good  a  fellow  as 
ever  robbed  an  apple-orchard,  and  he  ain't  a  chap  as  would  pre- 
waricate  about  such  a  small  matter  as  you've  been  talkin'  about. 
I  never  knowed  him  to  slip  up  on  his  word  mor'n  five  times  in  my 
life  ;  once  was  when  he  promised  Captain  Spanker  that  he  wouldn't 
drink  but  fifteen  '  tots '  and  would  come  on  board  in  twenty-four 
hours,  'stead  of  which  he  drank  about  five  hundred  '  tots '  and  stayed 
ashore  a  week  ;  and  when  the  captain  asked  Jim  how  he  come  for 
to  do  it,  he  said  he  made  a  little  mistake  in  his  figures  ;  and  the  cap 
tain  had  such  confidence  in  Jim,  and  knew  that  he'd  sooner  die 
than  prewaricate,  so  he  said  it  was  all  right  and  made  him  a  pres 
ent  of  a  bran  new  sou'wester." 
21 


322   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

" "Well,"  said  old  Handspike,  "I  see  you  three  fellows  are  all  of 
a  kidney,  and  I  suppose  either  one  of  you  can  do  as  much  as  Jim 
Blazes  claims  to  be  able  to  do." 

"Not  quite,  sir,"  said  Jack  Tiller.  "I  can  beat  Jim  on  the 
chain-lightning  dodge,  and  Joe  can  beat  him  divin',  but  we're  a 
hull  team,  Mr.  Ossifer,  and  you'd  better  ship  us." 

"Well,"  said  the  jolly  sailor,  "you've  passed  your  professional 
examination,  and  I'll  turn  you  over  to  Dr.  Lollipop.  Put  'em 
through,  Doctor,  mentally  and  physically.  You  diagnose  them  as 
well  as  I  did  in  seamanship,  and  we'll  have  three  of  the  best  fellows 
shipped  this  season." 

"Well,  my  man,"  said  the  doctor  to  me,  "  how  old  are  you  ?" 

"My  name  is  Jim  Blazes,"  says  I,  "sir,  but  I  don't  know  how 
old  I  am." 

"What  countryman  are  you  ?" 

"Don't  know,  sir.  My  father  was  Irish,  and  he  married  a 
Scotchwoman.  Then  my  mother  died  and  my  father  married  a 
Frenchwoman  ;  then  my  father  died  and  my  mother  married  a 
Frenchman ;  then  my  mother  died  and  father  married  an  Indian 
squaw  ;  and  then  my  father  died  and  mother  married  a  member  of 
Congress. " 

"  Stop  there  ! "  roared  old  Handspike  ;  "  you're  lying  now  sure." 

"No  he  ain't,"  said  Jack  Tiller ;  "it's  all  true,  as  I  could  prove 
to  you  if  I  had  some  papers  now  on  board  the  My-Aunt-don't- 
know-Me,  in  charge  of  that  friend  I  spoke  of." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Blazes,  did  you  ever  have  the  measles  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  I,  "three  times." 

"And  the  chicken-pox  ?" 

"Yes,  sir  ;  and  I've  had  the  small-pox  six  times." 

"  I  never  heard  of  such  a  case  before,"  said  the  doctor  in  aston 
ishment. 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir,"  said  I ;  "  it's  a  different  disease  in  different  parts 
of  the  world.  In  Africa  they  vaccinates  from  the  rhinoceros,  and 
up  in  the  Artie  they  vaccinates  from  the  polar  bear." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Blazes,  did  you  ever  have  the  whooping-cough  ?  " 

"Frequently,"  said  I ;  "and  I  always  cure  myself  by  taking  a 
little  of  Mrs.  Winslow's  Soothing  Syrup.  I  always  carries  a  bottle 
with  me  wherever  I  goes." 

"  Let  me  see  it,"  said  the  doctor,  "  if  you  have  any,  for  I  believe 
you're  stuffing  me." 

I  handed  out  my  bottle  and  the  doctor  tasted  the  medicine  ;  then 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG.  323 

he  took  a  good  swig,  and,  winking  his  eye  at  the  sailing  master, 
"I'll  be  hanged,"  says  he,  "if  this  here  ain't  prime  whisky." 

Old  Handspike  took  a  nip,  and,  looking  at  me  sternly,  said  : 
"Jim  Blazes,  it's  against  the  law  to  take  whisky  into  the  navy; 
you'll  have  to  leave  this  bottle  with  me." 

"No  you  don't,  sir,"  says  I.  "I  know  the  law  as  well  as  any 
body,  and  to  guard  against  all  precautions  I  have  labeled  that  medi 
cine  '  Hop  Bitters ' ;  that's  what  all  the  officers  do,  and  they  know 
the  ropes." 

The  doctor  stared  at  me.  "  One  more  question,"  said  he,  "  and 
I  am  done  with  you.  Have  you  cut  your  eye-teeth  yet,  Mr. 
Blazes?" 

We  all  passed  our  examination  and  got  our  certificates,  also  a 
passage  ticket  to  Cincinnati,  where  a  Government  steamer  was  to 
take  us  to  Mound  City,  near  Cairo,  Illinois. 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  we  arrived  safe  in  Cincinnati,  not  a 
man  of  us  deserting — we  were  not  that  kind  of  rot ;  but  I  mustn't 
forget  to  mention  that  old  Handspike  gave  us  some  ham  sandwiches 
and  a  bottle  of  soothing  syrup  to  take  along  with  us  in  the  cars, 
so  we  hadn't  the  slightest  desire  to  leave  our  seats. 

"When  we  reached  Cincinnati  we  marched  to  the  United  States 
steamer  Champion  at  the  levee,  and  found  ourselves,  with  over  a 
hundred  other  sailors,  booked  for  Uncle  Sam's  "Western  navy. 

The  captain  sang  out,  "  Stand  by  to  cast  off  !  All  aboard  ! "  and 
told  the  first  officer  to  sit  on  the  safety-valve,  and  away  we  went 
down  the  river  to  the  tune  of  "Yankee  Doodle,"  played  by  a  steam 
calliope  stuck  up  abaft  the  wheel-house. 

I  now  considered  myself  enlisted  for  the  war  and  liable  to  be 
fired  on  at  any  moment  by  the  numerous  guerrillas  who  infested 
the  river-banks,  and  I  was  ready  to  fire  back  as  soon  as  I  could  find 
out  where  the  muskets  were  kept. 

Besides  the  officers  of  the  Champion,  we  had  on  board  as  pas 
sengers  Captain  Foster,  known  as  "  Corporal  Foster,"  and  an  aid 
to  the  admiral,  both  of  whom  were  going  down  to  join  the  squad 
ron. 

Corporal  Foster  had  with  him  no  less  than  six  setter  dogs,  for 
what  purpose  no  one  could  imagine.  They  were  the  rummest  set  I 
ever  saw — up  to  all  kinds  of  tricks  ;  and  one  brown  dog,  which  the 
corporal  called  Ned,  was  a  wonderful  animal,  and  could  beat  the  best 
acrobat  I  most  ever  saw.  Ned  would  take  a  nip  from  the  corporal's 
flask  whenever  he  was  invited,  but  he  would  never  take  a  drink 


324:  INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

from  any  bottle  unless  it  was  marked  "  Hop  Bitters  "or  "  Soothing 
Syrup." 

Such  was  the  discipline  of  the  navy  at  that  time,  and  such  the 
anxiety  to  conform  to  the  law  of  Congress  against  spirituous  liquors, 
that  no  officer  or  man  in  the  service  would  take  a  drink  out  of  a 
bottle  unless  it  was  marked  "Medicine." 

The  admiral's  aid  was  a  jimmy-looking  youngster,  up  to  his  knees 
in  a  pair  of  long  boots,  with  the  seat  of  his  trousers  "  re-enforced  " 
like  a  cavalry  man.  This  led  me  to  believe  that  his  business  was 
to  go  about  on  horseback  ;  but  when  I  got  to  learn  how  things  were 
done  in  the  Mississippi  fleet,  I  ceased  to  wonder.  I  did  not  know 
how  soon  I  might  be  called  upon  to  grapple  with  chain  lightning 
or  go  to  the  weather-earring  of  a  smoke-stack. 

Corporal  Foster  soon  got  acquainted  with  everybody  in  the 
steamer,  and  there  wasn't  a  sailor  there  who  didn't  want  to  serve 
under  his  command  in  case  the  corporal  got  one.  He  said  he  was 
only  a  privateer,  and  was  going  down  without  orders  to  see  if  he 
could  get  the  admiral  to  let  him  have  one  of  the  India-rubber  iron 
clads  building  in  Louisville. 

Says  the  corporal  to  the  aid,  "How  is  the  admiral  on  dogs  ? 
Is  he  weak  ?  " 

"Well,  rather,"  said  the  aid  ;  "he's  fond  of  shooting." 

"  If  that's  the  case,"  said  the  corporal,  "  I'm  all  right.  I'll  get 
the  best  ironclad  on  the  river.  There's  only  one  man  I'll  give  my 
dog  Ned  to,  and  that's  the  admiral,  and  he'll  kill  more  birds  in  a 
day  with  Ned  than  he  could  with  twenty  other  dogs." 

On  the  10th  of  May,  1863,  the  Champion  hove  in  sight  of 
Mound  City,  and  everybody  rushed  on  deck  to  see  the  navy-yard. 
I  could  see  nothing  but  water  and  trees,  with  occasionally  a  chim 
ney  appearing  through  the  woods ;  but  at  last  the  navy-yard  was 
pointed  out  to  me  with  a  large  wharf -boat  lying  alongside  of  it. 

But,  my  eyes,  what  a  navy-yard  !  It  was  all  among  the  trees  that 
lined  the  bank  of  the  river.  There  was  ten  fathoms  of  water 
where  Mound  City  once  reared  its  imposing  head  of  fifteen  houses. 
The  Mayor's  house  was  out  of  the  water,  occupying  an  Indian 
mound,  which  gives  the  place  its  name. 

Everything  that  was  above  water  was  in  full  activity.  All  kinds 
of  shops  for  building  and  equipping  a  navy  were  on  rafts  and  in 
steamboats  ready  for  transportation  to  any  part  of  the  Mississippi ; 
indeed,  it  was  not  uncommon  to  see  the  whole  navy-yard  get  under 
way  from  Mound  City  and  proceed  where  it  was  most  needed. 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS  DOG.  325 

As  soon  as  we  arrived  a  signal  went  up  from  the  wharf-boat — 
"  Vessels  send  to  Champion  for  detachments  of  men  " — and  in  less 
than  half  an  hour  I  was  on  board  the  Forest  Rose  bound  up  the 
Tennessee  River.  Before  I  left  I  made  Jack  Tiller  promise  to 
write  and  let  me  know  everything  that  went  on,  and  a  short  time 
after  my  arrival  I  received  the  following  letter  : 

"  DEAR  JIM  :  Here  I  am  all  ship  shape  and  Bristol  fashion 
A,  No.  1,  copper  fastened,  and  sound  in  timber-heads,  dead-eyes, 
and  chain-plates,  and  app'inted  coxswain  to  the  admiral  on  board 
his  flag-ship  when  he  gits  one,  until  which  times  he  and  his  cox 
swain  hists  their  flag  on  board  the  IT.  S.  wharf-boat  supposed  to  be 
lyin'  alongside  the  levee  at  Mound  City. 

"  Well,  Jim,  perhaps  you'll  wonder  how  all  this  came  about, 
and  I  can  only  say  my  good  looks  done  it  for  me.  After  we  was 
put  in  line  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the  wharf-boat,  the  admiral  says 
to  me,  ' What  can  you  do,  Jack  ? '  'Anything  you  please,  yer 
honor/  says  I.  With  that  the  admiral  picks  up  a  fifty-six-pound 
weight,  slings  it  three  or  four  times  round  his  head,  and  then  let  it 
fly  at  me,  saying,  '  Catch  that,  Jack  ! '  and  catch  it  I  did  all  over, 
for  before  I  knowed  it  I  was  all  in  a  lump  on  the  quarter-deck,  and 
didn't  know  which  was  me  and  which  was  the  fifty-six-pounder. 

"  '  That's  lesson  fust,  Jack  Tiller,'  says  the  admiral.  '  I  wants 
my  coxswain  allers  to  be  ready  for  emergenses  and  never  to  lie  when 
the  truth  will  answer  better.  You'll  be  all  right  after  bein'  with 
me  a  week/  says  the  admiral ;  '  now  pick  out  a  crew  for  my  barge.' 

"  '  Yes,  sir,'  says  I,  '  yer  honor,  but  there  ain't  no  barge,  least 
wise  above  water.  I'm  tole  there's  an  old  one  down  in  the  mud  as 
belonged  to  Admiral  Foote  when  he  fust  come  out  here.' 

"  '  Never  you  mind  about  the  barge,  Jack  Tiller  ;  that'll  come 
afore  you  know  it.  Go  look  after  the  barge's  crew ;  no  man  less 
than  six  feet  wanted,  and  they  must  be  able  to  do  everything.' 

"Just  then  Corporal  Foster  came  on  board  and  introduced  his- 
self  to  the  admiral,  all  his  dogs  sittin'  in  a  row  on  their  stern-sheets 
with  their  right  paw  to  their  forelock,  same  as  if  they  was  a  touchin' 
of  their  hats. 

"  The  admiral  looked  at  him  very  stiff,  and  says  he,  '  Sir,  it's 
customary  for  officers  to  call  on  me  in  uniform.  See  Navy  Regger- 
lations.' 

"  '  Why,  Lord  bless  me,  Admiral ! '  says  the  corporal,  'if  you'd 
only  knowed  how  I've  been  fixed,  you'd  give  me  credit  for  gittin* 


326   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

here  any  fashion.  I  started  from  Injianner  on  a  mule  to  jine  you, 
and  strapped  my  chist  on  the  critter's  back  in  such  a  way  as  I  never 
supposed  he'd  git  it  loose  ;  but  the  fust  day  out  and  twenty  miles 
from  home,  blest  if  he  didn't  unlash  that  chist  and  kick  it  all  to 
pieces.  My  clothes  was  so  wallered  in  the  mud  that  you  couldn't 
tell  a  full-dress  coat  from  a  ditty-bag.  And  here  I  am  all  s tannin' 
in  the  best  I  got  with  my  sword  on/ 

"  '  Sir,'  says  the  admiral,  '  the  reggerlations  forbid  any  officer  to 
wear  any  part  of  his  uniform  in  citizens'  dress.' 

"  With  that  Corporal  Foster  unbuckles  a  rusty-lookin'  sword 
which  looked  as  if  it  had  been  lyin'  six  years  at  the  bottom  of  the 
river,  and,  turnin''  to  the  dogs,  says,  '  Here,  Ned,  take  charge  of 
this  here  sword,'  and  with  that  the  dog  got  on  his  hind  legs  and 
wobbled  to  his  master,  tucked  the  sword  under  his  arm,  and  tuk 
his  station  among  his  shipmates. 

"  Says  the  admiral,  *  That  beats  blanegan.  I  think  that  dog 
knows  mor'n  you  do,  Capting.' 

"  '  Jist  so,  Admiral,  and  he  kin  command  a  squadron  as  well  as 
any  officer  in  your  fleet.  There's  no  knowin'  what  he  can't  do  ;  try 
him,  sir.' 

"'Ned,'  said  the  admiral,  'tell  my  steward  to  bring  me  and 
Capting  Foster  a  glass  of  hop  bitters.' 

"Ned  laid  down  the  sword  and  scampered  off,  and  in  less  than 
two  minutes  he  returned  draggin'  in  the  steward  by  the  leg  with 
the  two  glasses  of  hop  bitters,  which  was  drunk  in  no  time,  and 
bizness  perceded. 

"  'Now,  Admiral,'  says  the  corporal,  ' I  brought  them  six  dorgs 
all  the  way  from  Injianny  jist  for  you  to  pick  and  choose  from,  an' 
for  that  matter  yon  can  have  the  hull  kit  an'  biler  of  'em.' 

"  I  tell  you,  Jim,  the  Foster  stock  went  up  quicker  than  I  ever 
seed  it  in  Wall  Street.  If  there  was  any  pint  the  admiral  was 
weak  on,  it  was  huntin'  dorgs,  an'  I  berlieve  if  he  was  engaged  in 
attackin'  a  battery  an'  a  flock  ov  quail  flew  over,  he'd  take  his  dorg 
an'  go  in  persute  ov  'em. 

"  'Well,  Capting  Foster,'  says  the  admiral,  'I'd  like  'em  all,  but 
I  h'aint  got  no  flag-ship  gist  yet,  and  I'm  only  boardin'  for  the 
present  on  to  this  here  wharf-boat.  When  I  get  a  flag-ship  I'll  fit 
'em  all  up  comfortable ;  they'll  help  while  away  many  a  weary 
hour.' 

" '  What  kind  of  a  flag-ship  do  you  want,  Admiral  ? '  says  the 
corporal. 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND   HIS  DOG.  327 

/  says  the  admiral,  '  I  want  a  big  double-engine  steme- 
bote  as  can  accommydate  twenty  sekkertaries  and  clerks,  have  lots 
of  state-rooms,  a  place  for  twelve  horses,  two  cows,  a  lot  of  hens,  et 
cetrur,  et  cetrur.' 

" '  Good-morninV  says  Corporal  Foster,  an*  off  he  went  with 
the  dorgs  to  borry  a  tug  of  the  fleet  capting,  an'  very  soon  he  was  a 
steamin'  down  to  Cairo.  As  he  came  in  toward  the  levee  there  was 
a  big  steamer  a  comin'  up,  with  her  name  in  big  letters  between  the 
smoke-stacks,  Uncle  Sam. 

"Corporal  Foster  hailed  her,  and  says  he,  'Lay  to  ;  I  want  to 
examine  your  papers,'  says  he.  The  corporal  went  aboard,  slapped 
the  capting  on  the  back  and  shuck  his  hand  till  he  nearly  wrung 
his  arm  out.  Says  he,  '  Where's  your  papers,  Capting  ? ' 

"'Why/  says  the  capting,  'I  h'aint  got  no  papers,  and  wot's 
more,  I  never  heerd  of  sich  a  thing ! ' 

"  '  Then/  said  Corporal  Foster,  'I  seize  you  as  a  prize  and  der- 
ilick.' 

"  '  A  what  ? '  says  the  capting. 

"'  A  derilick/  says  the  corporal,  'and  you  must  prepare  to  go 
along  with  me.' 

"  'Well/  says  the  capting,  'I  never  heerd  of  no  sich  perceed- 
in's ;  this  war  has  turned  everything  topsy  turvy,  and  there's  no 
more  virtue  in  the  land/  says  he. 

"  '  Wot's  your  old  craft  wuth  ?'  says  the  corporal. 

" '  She's  wuth  so  much  to  me/  says  the  capting,  'that  I  won't 
sell  her.' 

"  *I  didn't  ask  you  to  sell  her/  says  Foster  ;  'I  only  intend  to 
buy  her.' 

"  '  It  takes  two  to  make  a  bargain/  says  the  capting,  '  and  yon 
can't  buy  her  without  my  permission.' 

'"Well,  wot  is  she  wuth  anyhow,  Capting  ?' 

"  'Thirty-five  thousand  dollars/  said  the  capting,  'and  I  guess 
it'll  bother  you  to  raise  the  money,  for  you  don't  look  as  if  you 
could  raise  five  dollars.' 

"  '  Fust  and  foremost/  says  Foster,  '  I  seizes  you  as  a  bony  fidy 
prize,  a  derilick  without  papers  on  the  high  seas,  for  if  these  aint 
the  high  seas  I  don't  know  what  is.  Second,  I  go  your  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars  and  five  thousand  better,  and  close  the  bargain. 
Third,  I  seizes  you  for  pub.  ser.,  which  takes  away  all  ownership 
from  you  and  rests  it  in  Uncle  Sam.  Fourth — ' 

"'Hold  on  there,  Mister/  yelled  the  capting,  'that's  enuff.     I 


328   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

see  plain  that  sum  of  them  there  clauses  is  goin'  to  fotch  me.  I 
cave  in ;  gimme  forty  thousand  dollars  and  take  the  old  critter,  an' 
my  heart's  broke.' 

"  e  All  right,'  says  the  corporal ;  ( steam  up  to  the  wharf -bote  an' 
we'll  settle  the  bizness.  Here,  Jack  Tiller,  take  the  helm.'  Jim, 
you  bet  I  was  there,  and  the  way  I  steered  that  ole  Uncle  Sam  into 
the  wharf-bote  was  a  caution.  I  only  mashed  one  carpenter-shop, 
sunk  the  iron-plating  department,  and  broke  the  paddles  ofi3  the 
port  wheel. 

" '  She's  yourn  now,'  says  the  capting  ;  f  you  kin  do  as  you  please 
with  her — let  her  rip.  But  on  the  hole,  Coxsin,'  says  he  to  me, 
'you  done  as  well  as  I  ever  see  the  navy  do  in  these  waters,  if  not 
a  little  better.' 

"The  Uncle  Sam  was  soon  tied  up,  and  the  mechanics  was  all 
so  busy  in  swimmin'  that  they  didn't  notice  any  irregularities  in 
the  performance  of  the  everlootion. 

"  Corporal  Foster  walked  into  the  front  parlor  of  the  wharf-bote 
with  his  dorgs,  took  off  his  hat,  while  all  the  dorgs  sat  on  their  stern- 
sheets  in  the  most  respectful  manner. 

"'Admiral,'  says  the  corporal,  'your  flag-ship  is  alongside,  an' 
ready  to  perceed  to  sea  at  a  moment's  notice.' 

"  'What  flag-ship  do  you  mean,  Foster  ?'  says  the  admiral,  and 
jumped  up,  lookin'  out  the  winder  at  the  big  steamer  loomin'  up 
above  the  wharf-bote,  with  a  wooden  Indjun  representin'  Black 
Hawk  standing  up  fifteen  feet  high  between  the  smoke-stacks. 

"'Jist  what  I  wanted,  Foster/  says  the  admiral;  'how'd  you 
git  her?' 

"  '  She  hadn't  no  papers,'  says  the  corporal,  'an'  I  seized  her  as 
a  prize.  She  was  a  derilick,  and  I  have  no  doubt  she  comes  under 
the  head  of  flotsam  and  jetsam.  Then  I  bought  her  out  for  forty 
thousand  dollars  and  seized  her  for  pub.  ser.  the  way  the  army 
does.' 

" '  That's  the  strongest  claws  of  all,'  says  Foster,  '  and  when  I 
tole  the  cap  tin  you  was  that  kind  of  a  man  who,  if  he  wanted  his 
great  uncle's  bones  for  the  pub.  ser.,  he'd  take  'em,  he  caved  in. 
The  vessel's  yourn,  with  everything  a  man  can  want — crew,  cooks, 
stewards,  incloodin'  bed  and  table  linen,'  says  the  corporal. 

"  The  paymaster  was  called  in  and  the  hull  matter  was  soon  ar 
ranged.  The  Uncle  Sam  was  ourn  and  the  owner  had  his  forty 
thousand  dollars.  The  captin  sat  there  very  melancholy.  'Admiral,' 
says  he,  '  there  aint  no  more  virtue  in  the  land  since  this  war  bruk 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS  DOG.  329 

out.  You've  done  bruk  my  heart ;  me  an'  my  old  gal  as  has  stuck 
together  for  thirty  years  must  part.  You'll  get  a  flag-ship  as  is  a 
flag-ship  ;  her  upper  works  is  from  fair  to  middling  but  she  wants 
an  entire  new  hull ;  her  bilers  were  condemned  eight  years  ago,  and 
she  can't  carry  only  ten  pounds  of  steam.  Her  shaft  is  broke  in 
three  places,  but  you  can't  see  it  for  the  putty.  We  keeps  six 
siphon-pumps  agoin'  and  the  steam  pipes  all  the  time.  Her  steam- 
chist  has  busted  thirty-six  times  in  the  last  two  years,  and  killed 
four  men,  and  she's  bin  on  fire  twenty-two  times.  She's  full  of 
rats,  cockroaches,  and  bedbugs,  but  if  her  cook  can't  make  the  best 
lobscouse  and  slapjacks  in  this  country  I'll  eat  him.  I  couldn't  get 
no  charter,'  says  the  captin,  'for  the  army  wouldn't  tech  me.  I 
tried  to  get  seized  for  the  pub.  ser.  No,  sirree,  no  one  wanted  the 
likes  of  the  Uncle  Sam.  I  offered  to  sell  her  for  twelve  thousand 
dollars,  but  they  said  she  wasn't  good  for  anything  but  fire-wood. 
An'  here  in  the  nick  of  time  comes  this  navy  feller  and  relieves 
me  from  all  my  differculties.  Wall,  arter  all,  there's  more  vartue 
in  the  country  than  I  thought  there  was,  and  I  wishes  you  all  a 
good-mornin','  says  he;  'and  don't  forgit  Jim  Longeye  in  case 
you  wants  to  buy  another  bote.' 

"  The  admiral  looked  at  Foster  and  Foster  looked  at  the  admi 
ral.  'Admiral,'  says  Foster,  'I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it,  sir,  an' 
I'll  find  out  quicker  than  you  can  skin  an  eel/  and  he  started  on 
his  inspection. 

"  On  his  way  round  the  steamer  he  diskivered  a  big  bote  twelve 
feet  long  an'  eight  feet  wide  ;  so  he  sends  for  the  carpenter  an'  or 
ders  her  to  be  cut  in  two  in  the  middle  and  lengthened  fifteen  feet, 
ordered  a  new  bow  and  stern  put  into  her,  new  sides,  new  bottom, 
thwarts,  and  stern  sheets,  so  that,  when  she  was  finished,  the  ad 
miral  had  as  nice  a  barge  as  ever  you  see. 

"  Corporal  Foster  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  inspection  of 
the  Uncle  Sam,  an'  went  to  work  to  onst  to  move  the  admiral  an' 
all  his  baggage  right  on  board.  A  bottle  of  Mrs.  Winslow's  syrup 
was  broke  over  her  bows  an'  the  Uncle  Sam  was  transmogrified  into 
Black  Hawk,  an'  the  admiral's  flag  hoisted  at  the  mizzen,  an'  there 
she  was  all  ship  shape  an'  Bristol  fashion. 

"  Foster  painted  her  with  three  rows  of  sham  port  holes,  an'  if 
she  warn't  the  most  dangerous  lookin'  ship  of  the  line  I  ever  see, 
my  name  ain't  Jack  Tiller. 

"  When  Corporal  Foster  had  fixed  the  admiral  to  his  satersfac- 
tion  he  put  a  brass  collar  on  the  dog  Ned,  with  '  Admiral  Porter J 


330   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

engraved  on  to  it,  an'  wen  the  other  dogs  seen  it,  bless  me  if  they 
didn't  set  on  to  their  stern  sheets,  with  their  tongues  lollin'  out, 
and  duck  their  heads  to  him,  an'  they  allers  arterwards  showed  him 
the  respeck  due  to  their  superior  officer. 

"  The  next  day  arter  all  this  was  done  the  admiral  says  to  Foster, 
says  he,  *  Foster,  I  owe  you  one  ;  I'm  a  goin'  to  order  you  to  com 
mand  the  Indier  rubber  iron  clad  Larfyett.  She's  a  double  back- 
action,  copper  fastened,  invulnerable  A  number  1  ship  of  war  now 
buildin'  in  Looeyville.  Here's  your  orders,  so  git  up  an*  git  with 
out  delay.' 

"The  corporal  grinned  all  over,  an'  says  he,  'Admiral,  you'll 
find  I'll  handle  her  without  gloves/  an'  so,  makin'  his  sdlam,  he 
started  for  Looeyville. 

"  You  must  know,  Jim  Blazes,  that  I'm  allers  about  the  admiral, 
an'  he  can't  do  nothin'  without  me  ;  that's  the  how  and  whyfore  I 
sees  all  and  hears  everything  that's  goin'  on. 

"I  can't  tell  you  all  the  doin's  of  this  here  fleet,  but  I  will  tell 
you  some  of  the  doin's  of  that  remarkable  dorg  Ned,  what  I  never 
seen  the  likes  on  afore.  He  takes  his  seat  regular  right  by  the  admi 
ral's  desk  waitin'  for  orders.  He'll  empty  the  waste  basket,  call  the 
steward  when  hop  bitters  is  wanted,  wich  keeps  him  tolerable  busy, 
bring  the  admiral's  slippers,  and  walk  in  to  dinner  when  it's  ready. 

"  He's  learned  to  read  the  steme  indykater  hisself,  an'  wen  there 
ain't  enuff  steme  on  he'll  carry  a  log  of  wood  in  his  mouth  to  the 
furniss  and  make  a  fireman  chuck  it  in.  He'll  bark  like  blazes  if 
the  night  lamps  ain't  lit  in  time,  an'  wen  he  sees  a  rebel  skulkin' 
on  the  banks  he'll  seize  a  musket  from  the  rack  an'  pass  it  to  a 
marine  to  fire.  I'm  most  afrade  to  tell  you  all  the  dorg  can  do, 
for  you're  such  a  allfired  whopper  teller  yourself  that  you  won't 
berleeve  anybody  wot's  telling  you  a  reasonable  thing. 

"  Why,  one  day  Ned  seed  a  officer  a  takin'  a  five  gallon  demmy- 
john  of  wisky  abord  his  ship.  He  seized  it  by  the  handle  and  run 
it  right  abord  the  flag,  for  he  knowed  as  well  as  any  Christian  it 
was  agin'  the  reggerlations.  Yet  he'd  let  fellers  carry  boxes  and 
boxes  of  hop  bitters  on  bord  an'  never  sed  a  word,  cos  that  warn't 
agin'  the  law. 

"Another  time  a  officer  accidentally  took  the  admiral's  cap. 
Ned  ran  after  him,  grabbed  the  admiral's  cap  off  his  head,  ran 
aboard  the  flag  ship,  and  laid  the  trofee  at  his  marster's  feet. 

"  But  to  hurry  up  my  story.  I  ain't  a  goin'  f er  to  tell  you  about 
the  takin'  of  Vicksburg ;  it  was  tuk,  an'  no  mistake,  an'  the  admi- 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG.  331 

ral  ordered  Corporal  Foster  in  the  Larfyett  to  the  mouth  of  Red 
River,  an'  follered  him  down  in  a  short  time. 

"  Wen  we  got  there  in  the  Black  Hawk,  Foster  was  a  lyin'  in  his 
vessel  at  widdow  Angler's  landin',  an  we  hauled  in  there  likewise 
an'  staid  several  days. 

"The  second  day  two  ladies  come  down  to  the  levee  to  see  the 
admiral,  an'  was  admitted  on  bord  ;  an'  now,  Jim,  I'm  goin'  to  tell 
you  the  funniest  thing  you  ever  heern  tell  on.  These  ladies  had 
already  pade  Corporal  Foster  a  visit,  an'  he  prepared  the  admiral 
as  to  what  kind  of  craft  they  was.  There  was  all  kinds  o'  craft 
along  the  river,  but  we  never  see  nothin'  as  quite  come  up  to  them 
two. 

"  These  ladies  warn't  at  all  put  out  wen  they  went  in  to  the 
cabin  to  find  a  dozen  officers  all  in  uniform.  They  was  both  in 
short  huntin'  skirts,  had  on  high  top  boots,  an'  carried  double  bar 
reled  guns  an'  fixin's,  and  each  had  a  pinter  dorg. 

"  *  How  air  you,  Admiral  ?  '  says  the  oldest  one.  '  I'm  Mrs. 
Angler  an'  this  is  Mrs.  Jenkins.  We're  uncommon  glad  you've 
come,  coz  all  we  Union  peeple  is  sufferin'  dreadful  at  the  ban's  of 
the  rebbels,  an'  we  wants  pertection,'  an'  she  smole  sich  a  smile  as 
no  admiral  could  resist. 

"  <  Yes,'  says  Mrs.  Jenkins,  '  we've  bin  crazy  to  see  you,  an'  we 
set  up  all  night  watchin'  for  your  lights.' 

"  '  Yes,  marm,'  says  the  admiral,  bowin'  low,  'it  is  deliteful  to  see 
so  much  Union  feelin'  all  along  the  river.  Why,  they  did  nothin' 
but  fire  off  guns  all  the  way  down,  an'  the  only  objection  to  it  was, 
they  forgot  to  take  out  the  shot.  In  consikence,  they  bruk  some  of 
my  winders  an'  killed  my  best  cow.' 

"  l  Oh,  mi,  how  shockin'  ! '  said  the  widder  Angler.  '  Deer  Ad 
miral,  I'll  give  you  two  fresh  cows  to  make  up,  for  I'm  Union  all 
over,  ain't  I,  Julia  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  dear,'  says  the  widow  Jenkins,  '  an'  I  go  ten  better  than 
you,  for  I'll  give  the  admiral  four  fresh  cows  with  calves.' 

"' Thank  you,  marm,'  says  the  admiral,  'I  borrowed  as  many 
as  I  wanted  from  the  Union  peeple  along  the  river,  but  I'm  much 
obleeged  to  you.' 

" l  You've  jist  come  in  the  nick  of  time,'  says  Mrs.  Angler. 
'Genral  Kirby  Smith,  C.  S.  A.,  is  goin'  to  make  a  raid  on  our 
side  of  the  river,  an'  you  kin  help  me  run  in  my  cotting  to  the 
river  bank,  where  it'll  be  safe  under  your  guns  till  I  kin  send  it  to 
New  Orleens  on  Ginral  Banks's  pass.' 


INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"'  Madam,'  says  the  admiral,  'I  can't  meddle  with  these  matters. 
It's  agin'  my  orders.  I  turns  'em  all  over  to  the  Treasury  agints.' 

"  '  But,  Admiral,'  says  the  smilin'  widder,  '  we  is  so  Union  you'll 
make  a  diffrunce  in  our  case.  Besides,  Admiral,'  she  wispered, 
"  wen  the  six  hundred  bales  gits  under  your  guns  you'll  get  a  check 
for  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  your  oldest  darter.' 

"  '  Thank  you,  marm,'  says  the  admiral,  '  but  my  darters  is  per- 
vided  for  ;  their  grate  grand  unkil  died  lately  an'  left  'em  a  million 
dollars  apiece.' 

"  '  Well,  then/  says  the  widder,  '  it'll  do  fer  your  son  ;  he  won't 
turn  hiz  nose  up  at  twenty  thousand.' 

"'No,  marm,' says  the  admiral,  ' certingly  not.  My  son  is  a 
second  lootenant  of  marines,  an'  he's  already  laid  up  sixty  thousand 
dollars  off  his  pay.' 

"'But  then  yourself,  Admiral,'  smiled  the  pretty  widder. 
'You  wouldn't  mind  having  the  money  to  buy  a  pretty  cottage 
after  this  kruel  war  is  over.' 

"'Thank  you  kindly,  marm,'  says  the  admiral,  'but  I've  got 
six  cottages  aready,  an'  kin  only  occupy  one  at  a  time.  I  hev  one 
at  Newport,  one  at  Cape  May,  two  at  Long  Branch,  a  palace  in 
Pennsylvania,  an'  a  magnifercent  mansion  at  Annapolis  Junction. 
No,  thank  you,  another  cottage  would  be  the  fether  as  would  brake 
the  kamel's  bak.  Besides,  marm,  the  U.  S.  Government  takes 
most  libberul  care  of  me  while  livin',  an'  propose  at  my  deth  to  give 
my  wife  a  penshun  of  ten  thousand  a  year,  with  five  thousand  to 
each  ov  my  children.  Besides,  I  saved  over  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars  ov  my  lootenant's  pay,  an'  what  would  I  want  more  ?  But,' 
says  the  admiral,  'I  shall  be  extremely  happy  if  you  ladies  will 
breakfast  with  me,'  wot  was  eggsactly  wot  them  two  widders 
wanted.  They  had  tried  that  game  with  Corporal  Foster,  an'  if 
he'd  a  bin  there  a  week  longer  by  hisself,  or  if  he'd  bin  admiral, 
he'd  a  caved  in  sure,  for  they'd  nearly  reached  his  price. 

"  Lord  bless  you,  Jim,  how  them  pretty  widders  did  rattle  away 
at  that  table  under  the  effex  of  the  shampane  the  admiral  served 
out  to  them,  while  he  hisself  stuck  to  hop  bitters  !  They  sailed  all 
around  him,  and  flung  out  their  handsomest  flags  in  way  of  signal. 

"But  the  admiral  was  like  Nelson  at  Copenhagen  :  he  allus  put 
his  spy  glass  to  his  blind  eye. 

"  Then  they  fired  on  him  with  every  gun  they  kud  bring  to 
bare,  at  long  an'  short  range,  with  grape  an'  shrapnel.  Then  they'd 
make  all  sail,  in  hopes  he'd  give  'em  a  chance  ;  an'  when  they  seed 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS   DOG.  333 

he  wouldn't,  they'd  double  reef  their  topsails  an'  furl  their  courses. 
But  it  warn't  no  use.  He  sot  and  sipped  hop  hitters,  an'  nary  a 
shot  of  theirn  ever  struck  him  below  the  water  line  ;  an'  wen  any 
of  his  riggin'  was  shot  away  he'd  splice  an'  knot  it  together  agin  so 
handy  that  they'd  never  see  how  it  was  done. 

"  At  last  the  widders  caved  in,  an'  Mrs.  Jenkins  says,  in  a  pout, 
{ Admiral,  you  hain't  got  no  heart  or  you  couldn't  resist  the  plees 
of  two  han'som'  wimmen.' 

"  '  Thank  you,  marm,'  says  he,  '  jest  so  ;  I  never  have  no  heart 
after  breakfast,  an'  if  you  please,  marm,  I'll  attend  now  to  orficial 
bizness.' 

" 'But,  Admiral/  sez  the  widder  Jenkins,  ' we've  come  pertick- 
erly  to  ask  you  to  come  a  shootin'  with  us.  We  have  millions  of 
game  on  the  place,  an'  the  finest  dorgs  in  Louisianner.' 

" '  Now,'  says  Corporal  Foster,  '  the  admiral's  a  goner.  He 
can't  stan'  that.'  An'  sure  enuff  he  couldn't.  Says  he,  'I  don't 
care  if  I  do  jist  try  my  dorg  Ned,  who,  I'm  tole,  is  the  best  dorg 
for  huntin'  in  the  world.' 

"  Lord,  Jim  Blazes,  how  them  two  smiled  all  over  !  It  wos  like 
ships  in  stays  an'  the  sales  all  beginnin'  to  flutter. 

"  The  admiral  went  an'  put  on  his  huntin'  cote  an'  called  Cor 
poral  Foster,  an'  says  he,  '  Do  you  know  I  thinks  them  are  widders 
intends  to  git  me  out  in  the  country  a  huntin,'  an'  wen  my  gun 
is  fired  off  to  capture  me  an'  turn  me  over  to  the  rebbels  ?  So  you 
come  along  too.  Jack  Tiller,  you  carry  my  bird  bag,  an'  put  a 
rewolver  into  your  pocket.  An'  Foster,'  says  he,  '  git  us  haf  a  doz 
en  bawl  cattriges  apeece  ;  we  don't  know  what  fellers  these  widders 
may  have  stowed  away  in  them  bushes  out  yander.' 

"  But  didn't  the  crew  stair  wen  they  see  the  admiral  an'  his  reti- 
new  !  An  didn't  the  widders  giggle  an'  skip  along  like  two  young 
deer  I 

"  Widder  Jenkins  says  to  the  admiral,  'Parley  voos  frongsay  ?' 
'No,  thank  you,  marm,'  says  he,  'not  too  much,'  though  the  ole 
koon  he  knowed  the  French  '  parley  voos '  like  a  duck.  Then  the 
widders  began  to  jabber  in  French  together,  wile  the  admiral  he 
tuk  in  every  word  they  sed. 

"  Says  widder  Angler,  '  I  jist  want  you  to  cross  this  feeld  an' 
look  at  my  pile  of  cotton.  I  know  youre  hart  will  relent,  Admi 
ral,  wen  you  see  it,'  an'  she  tole  the  other  widder,  in  French,  'there 
was  a  pile  of  fifty  bales  all  by  theirselves,  an'  wen  I  tell  him  it's 
hisn  it'll  fetch  him  sure  ;  no  man  kin  stan'  that.' 


334:    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"Just  at  that  moment  the  dog  Ned  began  to  sniff  the  air,  an' 
crawled  along  to  a  Virginny  fence  ;  then  he  jumped  on  the  fence 
and  stuk  out  his  tale  like  a  tug's  tiller,  an'  then  he  turned  his  hed 
an'  looked  at  the  admiral. 

"The  admiral  crawled  up  an'  looked  through  the  fence ;  then 
he  let  drive  both  barls,  when,  hevins  an  earth  !  I  never  heerd  such 
a  flutterin'  as  there  was  in  that  field.  The  Ad.  had  seen  a  large 
covey  of  quail  sittin'  with  their  heds  together,  an'  he  killed  every 
one  in  the  lot. 

"  The  dog  Ned  ran  off  barkin'  an'  growlin'  in  a  most  unac 
countable  manner.  All  the  hair  on  his  back  was  turned  the  t'other 
way,  an'  he  looked  more  like  a  catamount  than  a  dorg.  After 
barkin'  hisself  horse  an'  refusin'  to  be  passerfied,  he  run  away  clean, 
only  stoppin'  once  to  sit  up  on  his  stern  sheets  an'  put  his  paw  to 
his  nose,  as  much  as  to  say,  'I  knows  you,  Dicky  Riker.'  That 
was  the  last  the  admiral  seed  of  that  ere  dorg  for  a  long  time  to 
come. 

"  'Jack,'  says  the  admiral,  'present  them  birds  to  the  ladies.' 

" '  Does  you  suppose  I'd  tech  your  birds  ? '  said  widder  Jen 
kins,  turnin'  up  her  lip  like  the  clew  of  a  mizzen  royal.  '  What  do 
you  take  me  for  ?  "Why  even  your  dorg  is  disgusted  with  you.  No, 
sir,  I'm  a  sportsman,  not  a  pot  hunter,  an'  if  that's  what  you 
Yankeys  calls  sport,  I'd  advise  you  not  to  gun  much  round  this 
country,  or  you'll  get  lynched.'  The  admiral  was  cool  as  possible, 
while  Missus  Jenkins  was  a  bilin'  over.  Then  widder  Angler  tuk 
it  up.  Sez  she,  '  Ef  I  was  in  reach  of  a  justice  of  the  peece  I'd  hev 
you  arrested,  sir,  for  poachin'  an'  trespassin'.  There  ain't  a  ad 
miral  in  the  Confed'rit  serviss  as  would  hev  done  sich  a  thing.  It 
maid  even  your  dorg  desert  the  flag,  the  dirty  rag  you  sale  under. 
An'  there's  Captin  Foster  looks  as  if  he  was  a  goin'  to  desart  you 
too,  an'  sarve  you  right.' 

"  Foster  didn't  say  a  word,  but  he  looked  mighty  glum. 

"  '  What's  up,  Foster  ? '  says  the  admiral ;  '  is  you  a  sidin'  with 
the  ladies  ? ' 

"  'Well,  sir,'  says  the  corporal,  'that's  werry  sharp  practis.  I 
an'  Ned  ain't  use  to  that  kind  of  shootin',  an'  ten  to  one  he'll  com 
mit  sooicide.' 

"  'Not  a  bit  of  it,'  says  the  admiral ;  'he's  a  desarter,  an'  if  I 
catch  him  I'll  try  him  by  court  martial  an'  shoot  him.  Bong  joor, 
ladies,'  says  he  ;  (jer  parlfrongsay  komme  voo  I '  an'  off  he  walked 
back  to  the  ship. 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG.  335 

"  The  widders  tried  to  persuade  Corporal  Foster  to  go  gunnin' 
with,  them,  but  he  saw  the  signal  from  the  flag  ship  where  the  ad 
miral  had  arrived  for  all  ossifers  to  repare  on  board.  So  he  hed  to 
say  good  bye  to  the  ladies,  an*  we  didn't  see  them  widders  no  more. 

"Wen  Corporal  Foster  got  on  bord  the  flag,  the  admiral  says 
to  him,  '  Foster,'  says  he,  '  that  was  a  mighty  narrer  escaip  we  had. 
Did  you  see  them  fellers  a  movin'  among  the  bushes  ?  I  knew 
wen  I  slottered  them  ere  birds  the  two  sportin'  widders  would  rile 
up,  an'  my  objec'  was  to  pick  a  quarrel  an'  not  go  no  further. 
They'd  a  had  us  in  ten  minutes  more.' 

" '  Thunder  ! '  says  Foster,  '  who'd  a  thort  it  ?  now  I  see  it  awl. 
Old  Sam  Weller  was  rite  about  widders,  an'  no  mistake.' 

"'Well,  Foster,'  says  the  admiral,  'this  is  a  lesson  to  you; 
keep  clear  of  them  widders  ;  don't  call  on  'em,  an'  be  perticilar  an' 
don't  take  tea  with  'em.  If  you  catch  Ned,  try  him  an'  hang  him. 
I'm  goin'  right  up  river,  an'  as  you're  short  ov  men,  I'll  leave  Jack 
Tiller  an'  the  barge's  crew  with  you,  an'  mind,  look  out  for  the 
widders.' 

"  Haf  a  hour  arter  that  the  flag  ship  was  a  boomin'  up  river  an' 
I  was  under  command  of  Corporal  Foster. 

"  The  fust  thing  ole  Foster  did  was  to  stick  a  long  hickory  pole 
over  the  bow  an'  rig  a  torpedo  catcher,  which  was  a  deep  net  de- 
sendin'  below  the  bottom. 

"  That  same  night  there  was  a  tremenjous  flutterin'  in  the  net, 
an'  the  lookout  sings  out,  '  We've  cotched  a  alligaiter  ! ' 

"The  captin  run  forrard  with  a  Springfeeld  rifle  an'  sings  out, 
'  Who's  there  ?  I'm  goin'  to  shoot ! ' 

"  '  Don't  shoot,'  hollers  out  a  feller  in  the  net.  '  I'm  a  torpedo 
an'  I  might  explode  ! ' 

"  ( Ah,'  sez  the  corporal,  '  you're  there  are  you  ?  Bring  up  fif 
teen  more  Springfeelds  an'  stan'  by  to  fire  wen  I  tells  you.  Now, 
Mister,  answer  my  questions  or  I'll  bio'  you  to  smithereens.' 

" '  Anythin'  you  like,  Mister  Ossifer,  but  don't  fire.  I'm  a 
Union  man.' 

"  '  Wot  kinder  torpeder  you  got  there  ? '  says  Foster. 

"'Two  twenty  pound  dynymite,  bound  to  explode  in  forty 
minutes. ' 

"  '  Let  'em  explode  then,'  says  Foster.     f  They  can't  hurt  us  I ' 

"  '0  Lord  !  save  me,'  says  the  torpedo. 

"  '  Who  sent  you  on  this  expydition  ? '  says  Foster. 


336   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"  ( Widder  Angler  an*  widder  Jenkins,'  says  he. 

"  '  Jump  inter  the  gig,  boys,'  says  the  corporal,  'an'  take  them 
ere  things  an'  put  'em  right  under  widder  Angler's  stable ; '  an' 
werry  soon  we  planted  them  torpedoes  accordin'  to  orders. 

"  We  hauled  the  prisoner  outer  the  net  an'  stowed  him  away  in 
the  cole  hole. 

"  Then  we  sot  an'  waited,  an'  in  a  few  minutes  if  there  wasn't 
a  commotion  in  them  regions  my  name  isn't  Jack  Tiller.  The 
barn  wos  full  of  hay  and  cotting,  an'  wen  the  torpedoes  busted  the 
explosion  sounded  like  as  if  a  thousand  guns  had  gone  off  all  to 
once.  Stones,  planks,  an'  shingles  fell  around  us  like  hale.  One 
old  mule  lit  rite  en  top  of  our  safety-valve.  Then  the  ruings  tuk 
fire,  an'  the  burnin'  of  Moskow  wasn't  a  circumstance  to  it. 

"  'I  guess  we're  even  with  them  widders,  Tiller,'  says  the  cap- 
ting.  'Just  look  at  'em  streakin'  across  the  feeld,'  an'  sure  enuif, 
by  the  lite  ov  the  fire  there  was  the  widders  goin'  lickety  split 
across  the  country,  makin'  for  the  woods,  an'  they  hadn't  stopped 
to  put  on  their  huntin'  soots  either — not  much  !  It  struck  me 
they  looked  as  much  like  Wenus  as  anythink  I  ever  see. 

"  Cows,  bosses,  dogs,  cats,  pigs,  an'  chickens  was  all  runnin' 
for  deer  life,  an'  it  was  enuff  to  make  a  cat  larf  to  see  'em  jumbled 
together  an'  goin'  like  mad. 

"  That's  the  last  torpeder  the  rebs  ever  sot  for  us,  an'  I  rekon 
wen  the  rebbel  Sekkertary  of  the  Navy  heern  tell  on  it  he  larfed 
t'other  side  ov  his  mouth. 

"Just  two  months  arter  this  a  ole  nigger  come  alongside  in  a 
kanoo,  an'  says  he,  '  Massa  Captin,  I  bring  you  some  noos  by  wich 
you  kin  make  your  fortin'.  My  ole  massa  is  a  Union  man,  an* 
about  a  week  ago  the  rebs  done  give  him  a  beatin'  with  a  cowhide 
coz  he  wud  continer  to  draw  his  penshon  from  Uncle  Sam.  He 
said  he'd  be  a  Union  man  as  long  as  they'd  pay  him,  an'  I  bleev 
they'd  all  a  done  the  same.' 

"  Then  the  ole  darkey  tuk  from  his  wool  a  small  roll  of  paper 
informin'  Captin  Foster  that  some  of  Kirby  Smith's  ossifers  an' 
men  had  been  haul  in'  cotton  with  mule  teams  to  a  place  three 
miles  below  the  mouth  of  Eed  Kiver  ;  that  there  was  now  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  bales  ready  for  shipment  at  that  point,  an'  if  Cap- 
tin  Foster  would  start  that  nighte  at  12  he  would  bag  all  the  cot 
ton,  the  soldiers,  an'  the  steemer  that  was  goin'  to  take  it  to  Noo 
Orleens.  An'  the  ole  darkey  would  pilot  him  to  the  pint  where  the 
capter  could  be  maid. 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS   DOG.  337 

"  If  there  was  anything  Corporal  Foster  had  a  nose  for  it  was 
cotton.  I've  known  him,  goin'  down  the  river  twelve  knots  a  hour, 
sniff  the  air  an'  then  give  the  border  to  round  to,  an'  sure  enuff 
berhind  the  levee  would  be  a  bail  or  so  of  cotting  wich  he  would 
littrally  bag. 

"Thare  was  grate  excitement  on  bord  the  Larfyette.  Fifty 
men  was  picked  out  an'  armed  with  Remington  rifles,  five  botes  was 
got  ready,  an'  by  ten  that  nite  we  was  all  prepaired. 

"  Corporal  Foster  had  on  a  ole  suit  of  gray  an'  a  slouch  hat ; 
his  trousers  were  stuck  in  his  boots,  an'  he  looked  like  a  reglar 
hoosher  an'  no  mistaik. 

"The  five  botes  shoved  off,  the  ole  nigger  goin'  as  gide  in 
charge  of  two  men,  who  had  orders  to  blow  the  top  of  his  hed  orf 
in  case  of  any  trickery. 

"  *  I  shoodn't  be  susprized,'  says  the  corporal,  '  if  I  come  in 
contact  with  them  two  widders  before  I  git  back.  If  I  do,  an' 
they're  up  to  any  of  their  tricks,  I'll  give  }em  sich  a  spankin'  they 
won't  be  able  to  set  down  for  a  week,'  says  the  corporal. 

"In  an  hour  we  arrived  within  harf  a  mild  of  the  place,  an' 
then  went  ashore,  leaviu'  a  few  men  in  charge  of  the  botes,  an', 
piloted  by  the  ole  darkey,  we  crawled  along  under  the  levee  as 
quiet  as  mice ;  an'  arter  a  while  the  ole  darkey  pinted  out  the  wag- 
gins,  an',  by  the  lite  of  a  fire,  the  rebs  was  seen  sittin'  around  eatin' 
their  grub  very  quiet  an  comfortable. 

"'Now,  boys,'  says  the  corporal,  'I'm  goin'  in  to  hold  some 
conversation  with  them  fellers.  You  crawl  up  towards  'em  ;  wile 
I'm  talkin'  to  'em  an'  amoosin'  'em  you  creep  in  an'  surround  'em. 
Wen  you  heer  me  sing  out  "Corporal  Foster,"  advance  on  'em 
with  fixed  bagnets,  but  mind  don't  fire  onless  I  tell  you.  Now,' 
says  he,  'guard  agin  all  precautions.' 

"  The  capting  walked  along,  an',  on  account  of  the  stampin'  of 
the  mules,  the  rebs  didn't  heer  him,  an'  he  was  right  among  'em 
afore  they  knowed  it.  He  hadn't  even  a  jacknife  to  defend  hisself 
against  the  sixteen  men  the  rebs  had.  The  fust  thing  they  knew, 
says  he,  '  How  are  you,  pards,  kin  you  give  a  feller  some  supper  ? ' 

"In  a  instant  there  was  a  dozen  muskets  pinted  at  the  cor 
poral. 

"  '  Who  are  you  ? '  says  the  leader  of  the  gang,  '  an'  wot  in  thun 
der  are  you  doin'  here  ?  ' 

"  '  Wall,'  says  Foster,  'I  ain't  afrade,  anyhow  ;  I'm  too  hungry, 
an'  this  havin'  been  made  a  free  country  by  the  Confed'rit  Govern- 

22 


338   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

ment,  I  guess  I  can  peramberlate  round  without  axin'  any  one's 
opinion.  Hev  you  anything  to  say  to  that,  Gin'ral  ? ' 

"The  kompliment  of  bein'  called  gin'ral  was  too  much  for  the 
rebbel  ossifer,  an'  he  lowered  his  musket,  sayin',  '  Stranger,  you 
come  mitey  neer  gettin'  a  ball  thro'  your  hed  just  now,  an'  you  must 
be  a  darned  fool  to  go  wanderin'  round  among  sodgers.' 

"  '  I'm  allers  gettin'  into  trouble,'  says  the  corporal,  '  wanderin' 
round  where  I  oughtn't  to,  an'  I  hev  three  or  four  balls  in  my  hed 
now  in  conserkence.  The  fact  is,  I  seen  them  cows  up  thai*  an' 
was  a  lookin'  for  a  bucket  to  milk  'em  in.  I  couldn't  use  my  hat,' 
says  he,  <coz  it's  full  of  holes.'  An'  so  it  was,  sure  enuff,  for  the 
corporal  used  his  hat  for  a  target  wen  he  practiced  with  a  rifle. 

"'Look  here,'  says  Foster,  ' can't  you  give  a  feller  a  mouth- 
full  ? ' 

"'Well,  yes,'  says  the  leader,  'pervided  you  do  your  share  of 
loadin'  the  steamer  when  she  comes.' 

"  '  Of  course,'  says  Foster  ;  Til  not  only  do  that  but  I'll  put 
more  cotton  on  board  than  any  three  men  here.' 

" '  Bosh  ! '  they  all  sung  out,  '  but  if  you  don't  we'll  cob  you.' 

"'All  right,'  says  Foster,  who  sot  hisself  down  and  began  to 
eat  so  yoracious  that  the  rebs  thort  he  was  goin'  to  breed  a  famin'. 

" '  Grashus  heavings!'  says  the  hed  rebbel;  'stranger,  if  you 
don't  stop  you'll  bust  your  biler  ! ' 

" '  I  ain't  eten  nothin'  solider  'an  milk  for  three  days,'  says  the 
corporal,  an'  then  he  began  tellin'  stories  an'  a  shoutin'  an'  a  laffin' 
so  that  they  didn't  hear  us  closin'  in  around  'em.  But  the  captin 
saw  the  ends  of  our  bagnets  as  they  poked  over  the  levee,  an'  thort 
it  was  time  to  be  movin'.  Stretching  hisself,  he  says,  '  Gin'ral, 
considerin'  I'm  expected  to  put  most  of  this  cotting  on  board  a 
steamer  to  pay  for  my  supper,  I  must  say  this  is  the  meanest  square 
meal  I  ever  sot  down  to.  If  the  Confed'rit  Guv'ment  can't  do  no 
better'n  that,  it  had  better  git  up  an'  git.  On  the  hull,  I  berleeve 
I'll  shirk  my  contrack,  and  won't  tech  the  cotton  onless  you  give 
me  a  bottle  of  wiskey  an'  a  boned  turkey.' 

"With  that  the  leader  of  the  gang  jumps  up  an'  sings  out, 
'  Seize  that  feller  an'  duck  him,  an'  make  him  drink  a  bucket  of 
river  water.' 

" '  As  sure  as  my  name  is  Corporal  Foster,'  says  the  captin  in 
a  loud  voice,  'the  fust  man  that  moves  dies.'  An'  the  rebels  found 
themselves  covered  with  4  dozen  rifles.  The  rebbels  subsided  to 
wonst  wen  they  found  how  things  was  goin'.  Our  master  at  arms 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS   DOG.  339 

slapped  the  darbies  on  to  the  men,  an'  a  guard  was  put  over  the 
ossifers. 

"  'Now,'  says  the  corporal  to  the  prisoners,  f  boys,  what  do  you 
think  of  the  damned  ole  hoosher,  as  one  of  you  corled  me  just  now  ? 
But  don't  be  fritened ;  I  won't  eat  you,  notwithstandin'  your  bad 
supper.  But  it  was  the  best  you  had,  an'  I'll  give  you  a  better  one.' 

"  '  Here,  Mr.  Spangler,'  says  he  to  the  fust  lootenant,  'take  all 
these  peeple  back  to  the  karts.  I  see  the  lites  of  the  steemer  a  corn- 
in'  up.  Keep  'em  under  strick  gard,  an'  if  any  man  tries  to  signal 
that  steemer,  or  hollers  to  put  'em  on  their  gard,  bagnet  him  at 
once.' 

"  Pretty  soon  a  big  fast  stemebote  come  up  to  the  levee  and  threw 
out  her  lines,  wich  our  men  made  fast  to  the  trees. 

"  Doorin'  this  time  thirty  ov  our  men  was  behind  the  cotton 
bales,  an'  the  moment  the  gang  plank  was  run  out  they  rushed 
abord,  heded  by  our  cheef  engineer  and  assistants,  who  tuk  charge 
of  the  mersheenery. 

"  Captin  Foster  walked  quietly  up  to  the  stemebote  captin,  who 
had  jist  lit  a  pine  torch  which  showed  the  han'some  countenance  OY 
our  ole  frend  Captin  Longeye,  who  sold  us  the  Uncle  Sam. 

"  The  poor  devil  was  took  quite  aback  wen  he  saw  the  corporal, 
an'  wen  that  ole  Injannyman  tuk  from  the  bak  ov  his  cote  a  Ar- 
kansaw  tooth  pick  two  feet  long  and  hauled  a  revolver  out  of  his 
pocket,  Captin  Longeye  dropped  his  torch  an'  sot  down  on  a  box 
cov'rin'  his  face  with  his  han's.  'The  jig's  up,'  sez  he,  'an'  I'm  a 
goner  agin ! ' 

"'Yes,'  sez  the  corporal,  'you're  derilick  agin  on  the  hi'  seas, 
an'  you'll  be  hung  for  violatin'  the  articles  of  war,  wich  forbids  giv- 
in'  aid  an'  comfort  to  an  enemy.  Put  the  darbys  on  him,'  says 
Foster  to  the  master  at  arms,  'an'  tie  him  to  a  stanchion,'  which 
was  done.  Then  the  corporal  lectered  him  on  the  enormity  ov  his 
crimes,  sellin'  a  vessel  to  the  Gov'ment  wich  he  admitted  hisself 
wasn't  seaworthy.  Then  committin'  piracy  on  the  high  sees  by 
touchin'  cotton  which  he  knew  the  navee  was  only  waitin'  for  a 
chance  to  gobble.  Then  his  consortin'  with  rebbels,  the  enemies 
of  the  Guv'ment,  an'  last,  but  not  the  leest,  violatin'  the  Consti- 
tooshun  ov  the  United  Staits  in  not  obtainin'  the  admiral's  per- 
mishun  to  navergate  these  waters.  '  Horrible  ! '  says  Captain  Fos 
ter,  'horrible  !' 

"  Old  Longeye  hadn't  a  word  to  say,  but  could  only  grone  and 
cry,  '  I'm  a  goner  ! ' 


340    INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"'Now,  Tiller,'  says  Corporal  Foster,  'you  take  the  wheel,  and 
mind  you  don't  sink  half  a  dozen  macheen  shops  and  run  agin  the 
bank.' 

"In  three  hours  we  had  all  the  cotton,  oxen,  mules,  and  prison 
ers  on  board  the  steemer,  an'  in  harf  an  hour  after  we  was  alongside 
the  Larfyett,  me  a  steerin',  an'  I  tell  you,  Jim  Blazes,  the  way  I 
brought  that  there  vessel  to  her  position  would  a  done  your  heart 
good  to  see. 

"  I  only  smashed  the  Larfyette's  port  quarter  bote  an'  knocked 
orf  six  paddle  bords  by  runnin'  into  the  tug  wich  was  lyin'  astern. 
You  never  seen  a  come  too  done  better  in  the  navee,  tho'  ole  Long- 
eye,  in  his  spite  at  bein'  took  prisoner,  did  say  to  me,  ( You  know 
as  much  about  steerin'  a  Mississippi  stemebote  as  a  elephunt  does 
about  dancin'.'  The  only  anser  I  maid  was  to  put  a  rope  round 
my  neck  an'  hold  it  up  very  significant,  wen  he  subsided  with  a 
grone. 

"Wen  we  mustered  the  rebbels  on  bord  the  Larfyett  we  found 
we  had  the  follerin'  prisoners  :  Kurnel  Krawfish,  C.  S.  A.,  Major 
Grayback,  Captins  Dumplin,  Bushhead,  an'  Leaky,  two  sargents, 
one  korporal,  an'  eight  privates.  The  ole  darky,  who  had  been  our 
pilot  an'  done  such  good  servis,  went  home  before  the  rebbils  could 
ketch  site  of  him,  informin'  one  of  our  men  that  he  would  be  along 
side  the  Larfyette  some  fine  mornin'  with  his  wife  an'  eight  children 
with  a  lot  of  chickens  an'  turkeys  belongin'  to  the  Confed'rits.  The 
last  thing  he  sed  was,  ( I  shall  take  all  the  spoils  ov  the  Confeds, 
Massa,  an'  mo'  besides.' 

"  Corporal  Foster  invited  the  kurnel  an'  major  to  mess  in  the 
cabin,  an',  supposin'  they  was  tired,  showed  them  to  their  stait 
rooms.  As  the  kurnel  was  about  to  shet  his  door  he  says  to  the 
corporal  the  fust  words  he  had  spoke  to  him.  '  Captin  Foster,' 
says  he,  '  the  thing  I  hate  wust  about  this  bizness  is  havin'  to  sleep 
a  nite  under  the  folds  ov  the  blarsted  Union  flag  ;  it's  enuff  to  maik 
a  man  sick  ! ' 

"'Well,'  sez  the  corporal,  'don't  let  that  trouble  you,  for  the 
last  time  I  spent  the  nite  in  that  ere  stait  room  it  was  run  away 
with  bed  buggs  and  cockroaches,  an'  I  couldn't  close  my  eyes.  There 
must  be  about  a  million  of  'em  there  now.  If  you  like,  I'll  lay  an 
American  flag  over  the  bed,  an'  the  bugs  can't  get  through  it,  though 
the  cockroaches  will  flop  down  from  the  cracks  overhead.' 

"Well,  you  may  bet  your  life  Kurnel  Krawfish,  C.  S.  A.,  sub 
sided,  an'  we  heered  no  more  from  him  till  next  mornin'. 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS  DOG.  341 

"Wen  the  kurnel  an'  major  was  called  to  brekfast  their  faces 
looked  as  if  they  had  had  small  pox.  They  didn't  say  nothin',  but 
sot  down  an'  et. 

"'  Kurnel,'  says  Corporal  Foster,  'here's  some  spring  chickens 
off  widder  Angler's  farm  an'  some  fresh  eggs,  an'  here's  some  splen 
did  porter  house  stakes  off  them  cattle  of  yourn,  an'  some  nice  butter 
an'  hominy  from  Captin  Longeye's  stores.  Help  yourself,  an'  eat 
as  much  as  you  want,  for  if  all  your  meals  is  like  that  supper  of 
yourn  last  nite  you  must  be  allfired  hungry.' 

"' Never  mind,  sir,'  says  the  kurnel,  mity  dignified;  f every 
dorg  has  his  day,  Captin  Foster.  It  may  be  your  turn  next,  so 
you'd  better  stop  pokin'  fun  at  me ;  an'  remember,  sir,  I'm  a 
pris'ner.' 

"  '  I  sha'n't  forget  it,'  says  the  corporal,  ( an'  have  doubled  the 
sentrys,  with  orders  to  put  a  bullet  through  the  fust  pris'ner  what 
goes  too  near  the  ship's  side.'  Arter  that,  ov  course  the  conversa 
tion  wanrt  animated. 

"  The  pris'ners  had  been  aboard  two  days  wen  Captin  Leaky 
come  to  Corporal  Foster  an'  says  he,  '  Captin,  I've  somethin'  very 
particlar  an  confidenshal  to  tell  you.' 

"'Well,  start  your  mill,'  says  old  Foster,  'an'  grind  out  your 
meal,'  wich  was  a  figger  of  speech  the  ole  man  sometimes  used  for 
short. 

"  '  Well,  sir,'  says  Leaky,  '  the  kurnel  and  the  major  is  both 
goin'  to  be  married,  an'  the  weddin'  is  sot  for  this  day  week,  an'  all 
the  preparations  is  maid.' 

"  '  Jerusalem  ! '  says  Foster.     '  Well,  go  on.' 

"  '  Now,'  says  Leaky,  'I'm  come  from  the  kurnel  to  ask  if  you'll 
parole  us  long  enuff  to  hav'  the  seremony  performed.  Me  and  Cap- 
tin  Dumplin  and  Bushhead  is  to  be  groomsmen,  an'  the  kurnel  will 
giv'  a  solem'  promiss  to  come  back  the  day  arter  the  weddin'  and 
stop  with  you  until  we  are  reg'larly  exchanged.' 

"  '  No,  sirree,'  says  the  corporal,  '  not  if  this  Court  know  hisself. 
Why,  do  you  suppose  I  want  to  hav'  the  admiral  hang  me  for  aidin' 
an'  abettin'  the  enemy,  which  he  would  do  easy  as  rollin'  off  a  log  ? 
Not  as  you  knows  on.  I'm  not  one  ov  them  kind.  Let  the  wed 
din'  wait.  Perhaps  arter  a  time  the  parties  will  cool  off.' 

"  Leaky  begged  and  praid  for  an  hour,  tellin'  wot  a  horrible 
condishun  they  was  placed  in,  an'  wot  suffrins  the  captin  mite 
save  the  two  lovely  hangels  wot  they  was  about  to  lead  to  the  hyme- 
nial  halter  wen  this  catastrophy  overtook  'em,  an'  wen  all  the 


342  INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

money  they  expected  to  use  in  gettin'  the  bridle  truesow  was  gob 
bled  up  by  the  capture  ov  the  cottin. 

"  '  May  I  ask/  says  Corporal  Foster,  '  wot  mought  be  the  names 
ov  them  two  luyly  angels  as  is  goin'  to  lead  them  hossifers  to  the 
halter?' 

"  '  Well,'  says  Captin  Leaky,  '  I  will  tell  you  in  strick  confer- 
dence.  Perhaps  their  naims  an'  suffrins  will  tech  your  hart.  If 
you  could  only  know  them  ladies  you  would  wenerate  Jem  for  their 
virtoos,  innosense,  an'  beauty.  They  are  so  kind  an'  angel  like  they 
wouldn't  hurt  a  mouse,  an'  all  their  time  is  spent  in  works  ov  chairi- 
ty.  Kurnel  Krawfish  hopes  to  lead  to  the  hymenial  halter  the  boo- 
tiful  Missus  Jenkins,  my  cousin,  the  widder  ov  the  lait  Kurnel  Jen 
kins,  who  cut  his  throat  six  months  ago  in  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens. 
Major  Grayback  proposes  to  jine  hands  with  the  luvly  an'  accom 
plished  widder  Angler,  whose  late  husband  didn't  come  forward  to 
jine  the  Confederacy  wen  the  war  broke  out.  As  it  is  a  case  ov 
wife  desertion,  we  pronounce  'em  divorced.' 

"  '  I  see,'  says  Foster. 

"'Now,  captin,'  says  Leaky,  'I  put  the  matter  afore  you  as  a 
hi'  toned  Kristian  gentleman  who  loves  his  feller  creeters  an'  who 
can  picter  to  his  own  gen'rous  sole  the  evils  that  will  foller  if  this 
weddin'  should  be  postponed,  the  ag'ny  ov  them  there  lovely  angels 
whose  nites  pass  in  teers  owin'  to  the  capter  of  their  future  hus- 
ban's,  the  dispare  ov  the  two  noble  men  you  hold  as  pris'ners,  the 
disappintment  ov  we  three  young  men  who  have  spent  three  bar- 
rils  full  of  Confed'rit  notes  buyin  clothes  an'  weddin'  presents,  an'  the 
satisfaction  it  will  give  two  other  fellers  who  are  also  courtin'  the 
widders  an'  rejoicin'  over  the  misfortins  ov  we  pore  fellers  this 
very  moment.' 

"  'Look  a  hear,  Leaky,'  says  Foster,  ' you're  a  young  man,  an* 
that's  why  you  talk  so  much  like  a  idiot.  Don't  you  remember 
wot  Sam  Weller's  father  told  him — "  Don't  have  nothin'  to  do  with 
widders."' 

"  'Yes,'  says  Leaky,  'but  these  isn't  the  common  run  ov  wid 
ders  ;  they're  angels.' 

"'Jes'  so,'  says  Foster;  'I've  heard  ov  'em,  an'  their  bein' 
angels  may  make  a  diffrunce.  But  on  the  hole  I  like  the  way  the 
Hindews  treat  their  widders ;  they  burn  'em  up ;  an'  in  some  ov 
the  South  Pacific  I'lands  they  like  the  widders  so  much  they  eat 
'em.  I've  no  doubt  these  officers  would  do  the  same  six  months 
after  marriage  ;  an'  by  keepin'  'em  here  until  they  are  exchanged, 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG.  343 

the  widders  will  marry  them  other  fellers,  an'  these  two  gallant  offi 
cers  will  thank  me  in  the  end.' 

" '  You  are  a  hard  harted  man,  Captin  Foster,'  says  Leaky, 
bustin'  into  teers  an'  cryin'  like  a  child.  But  Foster  only  said,  '  It 
can't  be  done,  an'  there's  no  use  talkin'.  I  don't  want  to  be  hung, 
an'  I  won't  be  for  the  angelest  widder  in  the  Southern  Confed'ricy.' 

"  Captin  Foster  seemed  to  be  reel  sorry  coz  he  couldn't  graterfy 
the  young  feller ;  but  Leaky  soon  got  over  his  disappintment,  as 
Foster  cheered  him  up.  At  last  Leaky  says,  '  Captin,  I'll  thank 
you  for  a  chew  of  terbakker.'  Then  the  captin'  knowed  he  was 
saved. 

' ( Then  they  talked  ov  various  matters  and  things  till  Leaky  for 
got  all  about  the  widders  an'  his  unhappiness,  till  finally  he  sed, 
'  By  the  way,  Captin  Foster,  do  you  kno'  we  captured  your  admi 
ral?' 

"  '  Captured  wot  ? '  says  Foster,  jumpin'  up,  an'  me  an'  all  the 
men  as  was  near  closed  up  to  heer  wot  was  sed. 

'"Yes,  sir,'  says  Leaky,  'your  admiral  is  in  our  possession  a 
pris'ner  ov  war.' 

"  '  How  in  thunder  did  you  hear  that  ? '  says  Foster. 

"'Well,'  says  Leaky,  'I  saw  him  captured.     I  was  thar.' 

"  '  When  ? '  says  Foster.     '  Speak  quick,  or  you'll  hear  from  me.' 

"  '  Well,'  says  Leaky,  '  it  was  about  three  weeks  ago  we  cort  him 
swimmin'  across  the  river,  picked  him  up,  and  hav'  had  him  ever 
since.' 

"  '  Bosh  ! '  says  Foster.  '  I  heered  from  the  admiral  four  days 
ago  ;  he's  in  Cairo.' 

"  '  But,'  says  Leaky,  'we  captured  a  brown  setter  dorg  with  a 
brass  collar  marked  "Admiral  Porter,"  an'  we  call  him  the  "Ad 
miral,"  and  if  there's  one  person  been  to  see  him  after  hearin'  the 
admiral  was  captured,  there's  been  a  thousand.  He's  the  rummest 
dog  I  ever  seen,  an'  can  do  more  tricks  than  a  slite  ov  hand  per 
former.  People  tried  so  hard  to  steal  the  dorg  that  the  kurnel  had 
to  detail  a  gard  ov  ten  men  to  watch  him.' 

"  '  Jupiter  ! '  says  Foster,  '  how  wonderful  is  the  ways  ov  Provi 
dence  !  If  I  hadn't  captured  this  ere  party  I'd  never  heerd  of  that 
ere  dorg  agin.  There  should  be  some  compensation  in  orl  things, 
an'  I  think  the  kurnel  deserves  his  reward  an'  his  widder.  I'll  tell 
you  what  I'll  do,  Leaky.  You  can  say  to  your  kurnel  that  I'll  ex 
change  your  hole  party  for  that  dorg,  pervidin'  he  is  brought  to 
me  safe  and  sound  under  a  flag  of  truce  along  with  those  too  booti- 


344    INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR. 

ful  widders,  when  the  exchanges  of  the  officers  will  be  maid  out  an* 
they  can  go  where  they  pleas'.  Moreover,  I  pledge  myself  to  have 
maid  for  the  weddin'  out  ov  old  Longeye's  flour,  sugar,  and  eggs  a 
hundred  pounder  cake  for  the  weddin'  feast  an'  will  put  into  the 
middle  ov  it  a  diamant  ring  wuth  not  less  than  a  hundred  dollars.' 

"  'Will  you  ?'  says  Leaky,  his  eyes  stickin'  out  with  astonish 
ment,  an'  away  he  run  down  into  the  cabin  to  tell  the  kurnel  wot 
Foster  had  sed. 

"  In  about  haf  a  minite  Kurnel  Krawfish  bounced  on  deck,  his 
face  red  as  a  biled  lobster,  his  hare  standin'  on  end,  an'  his  eyes 
stickin'  out.  He  walked  strait  up  to  Corporal  Foster,  who  was  busy 
that  moment  seein'  how  often  he  could  squirt  terbakker  juice  into 
a  spit  box.  He  didn't  see  the  kernel,  but,  when  the  old  feller  sung 
out,  '  Captin  Foster,  how  dare  you  offer  me  sich  a  insult  ?'  et  cetery, 
and  so  forth,  (  Hello,'  says  Foster,  'wot's  up,  whose  killed,  and 
what's  soured  the  milk  ? ' 

"  '  Why,'  says  Kurnel  Krawfish,  'you've  offered  me  an'  my  offi 
cers  the  greatest  insult  one  man  could  offer  another,  proposin'  to 
exchange  me  for  a  setter  dorg  ! ' 

"'Yet,'  says  Foster,  'Captin  Leaky  jumped  at  the  offer,  an' 
nearly  broke  his  neck  in  the  hurry  to  get  to  the  cabin.  Did  he  tell 
you  ov  my  proposin'  to  throw  in  a  hundred  pound  cake,  an'  to  get 
the  two  pretty  widders  here  to  receeve  you  an'  take  you  home  ? ' 

"  '  What ! '  says  the  kurnel,  '  does  my  ears  derceive  me  ?  Am 
I  alive  ?  Does  any  one  dare  address  such  talk  to  me  an'  live  ? ' 

'"Yes,  sir,'  says  Foster,  '  I  dare,  an'  there's  the  shore,  an'  you 
needn't  consider  yourself  a  pris'ner  durin'  the  time  you  an'  I  are 
settlin'  any  little  dispoot.' 

"  The  kurnel  looked  as  if  he  would  like  to  jump  on  Foster,  but 
the  corporal  was  six  feet  four  an'  had  a  arm  like  a  blacksmith.  So 
the  kurnel  quieted  down  an'  walked  back  to  the  cabin,  went  into 
his  stait  room,  where  he  tuck  all  his  meals,  an'  couldn't  be  per 
suaded  to  come  out. 

"  This  lasted  two  days,  an'  it  only  wanted  five  days  ov  the  time 
sot  for  the  weddin',  while,  as  Leaky  techingly  remarked,  '  them  two 
angelic  widders  was  a  bustin'  their  harts  and  weepin'  pearly  tears, 
every  one  ov  wich  was  wuth  a  fortin.' 

"  Forternately,  greef  don't  last  for  ever,  an'  wisdom  comes  by 
experience. 

"  In  the  course  ov  forty  eight  hours  the  kurnel  wanted  to  see 
his  widder,  the  major  wanted  to  see  hisn,  and  the  three  captins 


CORPORAL   FOSTER   AND   HIS  DOG.  345 

wanted  to  git  the  wuth  ov  the  nine  bails  of  Confed'rit  munny  they 
had  spent  atween  'em  in  wed  din'  presents  an'  outfits.  Major  Gray- 
back  didn't  see  things  in  the  same  lite  as  the  kurnel,  and  the  three 
captins  thought  Krawfish  a  darned  ole  fool  for  puttin'  on  sich 
ares. 

"  There  was  a  grate  pow  wow  goin'  on  all  day  long  for  three  days 
among  the  pris'ners,  an'  they  almost  wore  the  cabin  ladder  out  run- 
nin'  up  an'  down. 

"The  rest  ov  'em  went  down  on  their  knees  to  the  kurnel,  till 
finally  Major  Gray  back  told  him  he  beleeved  he  wanted  to  git  outer 
his  engagement  to  the  angelic  Missus  Jenkins,  an'  that  the  other 
feller  who  was  a  courtin'  of  her  would  carry  her  off,  an'  he  hoped 
to  dance  at  his  weddin',  for  wich  languidge  Kurnel  Krawfish  said 
he  demanded  satisfaction  as  soon  as  they  got  on  shore. 

"  Howsomever,  that  last  remark  ov  the  major  was  the  camel  as 
broke  the  feather's  back,  an'  the  kurnel  said,  ( Do  as  you  dam  plees, 
only  I  shall  resine  from  the  army  as  soon  as  I  am  married  an'  go  an' 
establish  myself  in  Timbuctoo.  Don't  let  me/  says  he,  '  ever  see 
that  man  Foster's  face  agin,  even  wen  I  am  leevin'  his  ship ;  an' 
if  ever  I  take  him  pris'ner  I  will  put  him  to  death  on  the  spot.' 

" '  I  don't  see  how  that  can  happen,  Kurnel,'  says  Gray  back, 
'  as  it  isn't  likely  Foster  will  ever  go  to  Timbuctoo  ;  an'  if  he  does, 
you  will  be  so  glad  to  see  a  white  man  there  you'll  embrace  him 
on  the  spot.' 

"  Captin  Leaky  lost  no  time  in  tellin'  Foster  the  kurnel  had 
agreed  to  the  exchange,  and  seemed  reddy  to  bust  with  delite. 
Foster  then  handed  him  the  follerin'  paper  for  signin' : 

" '  We,  the  undersigned,  for  the  mutual  benefit  ov  the  Gov'- 
ments  ov  the  United  Staits  and  the  Suthern  Confed'racy,  do  cov'- 
nant  an'  agree  to  what  is  hereinafter  set  forth,  whiz  : 

" '  Captin  Foster,  better  known  as  Corporal  Foster,  does  agree 
to  liberate  the  Confed'rit  officers  whose  names  are  sined  to  this  paper, 
an'  permit  them  to  return  to  there  homes  in  exchange  for  one  brown 
setter  dorg  call  Ned,  a  desarter  from  the  Mississippi  squadron,  pro 
vided  the  said  dorg  Ned  is  delivered  into  the  hands  of  Captin  Foster 
on  bord  «the  U.  S.  S.  Larfyett,  free  ov  expens  to  the  United  Staits, 
within  three  days'  time  from  dait,  wen  the  Confed'rit  officers  whose 
naims  are  sined  to  this  paper  shall  be  allowed  to  depart  with  their 
side  arms  an'  effects. 

" '  Provided  further,  That  the  said  dorg  Ned,  a  desarter  from 


34:6   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

the  Navy  ov  the  United  Staits,  shall  be  handid  over  to  the  sed  Fos 
ter  by  those  two  angelic  widders,  Mrs.  Jennie  Angler  an'  Mrs.  Julia 
Jenkins,  in  person,  to  whom  a  recete  in  full  will  be  given  for  the 
saim. 

"  *  Provided  further,  That  the  sed  Foster  binds  hisself  to  have 
maid  a  weddin'  cake  not  less  than  one  hundred  pound  wate,  in  the 
highest  stile  ov  art,  for  the  weddin'  ov  the  two  angelic  widders  afore 
said  ;  which  cake  he  is  to  present  to  them  on  the  quarter  dek  ov  the 
Larfyett  as  a  piece  maker. 

"  'Unto  wich  the  hi*  contractin'  partys  do  hereunto  set  there 
hans  an'  seels  this  day  ov  .' 

"  This  dokkyment  was  submitted  to  all  the  parties  consarned, 
who  awl  agreed  to  it  except  the  kurnel.  He  almost  jumped  out  of 
his  boots  in  his  raige. 

"He  wouldn't  here  of  his  fieansay  visitin'  Foster's  ship,  an'  he 
demanded  to  see  Cap  tin  Foster  at  once. 

"The  corporal  invited  the  hull  party  into  the  cabin  to  discuss 
the  matter  amercably,  an'  said  he  would  satisfy  'em  all  that  the 
terms  was  the  best  in  the  world  for  all  parties  consarned,  an'  said 
how  easy  it  was  for  'em  all  to  get  off  for  only  one  pris'ner  in  re 
turn. 

"  '  Do  you  mene  to  put  us  on  a  par  with  a  dorg  ?'  says  the  kur 
nel.  '  That's  outragus  ! ' 

" '  An'  then,'  says  Foster,  '  just  think  ov  our  lib'rality  in  pur- 
vidin'  a  hundred  pound  cake  to  eat  at  the  weddin',  to  say  nothin' 
ov  the  bootiful  present  that  will  be  in  the  insides  ov  it.' 

"  '  Konfound  your  kake  an'  present ! '  says  the  kurnel ;  1 1  want 
none  ov  it.' 

"  '  Jes'  so,'  says  Cap  tin  Foster. 

"  '  An'  let  me  tell  you,  Captin  Foster,'  says  the  kurnel,  'I  objec' 
to  any  lady  ov  my  acquaintance,  especially  one  to  be  connected  with 
me  by  marriage,  visitin'  your  ship  under  any  circumstances  what- 
somever.' 

"f  Jes'  so,'  says  Foster,  'but  let  me  tell  you  I  heered  yesterday 
through  an  old  darkey  named  Washington  Buggs  that  "hi  jinks" 
was  bein'  plaid  while  you  was  away,  that  Kurnel  Fiddles  was  clean 
gone  on  your  widder,  an'  she  had  promised  if  she  didn't  here  from 
you  in  five  days  he  should  have  a  favor'ble  anser.  The  kurnel  prom 
ises  to  spend  nine  barls  ov  Confed'rit  scrip  on  the  widder  in  case 
she'll  hav  him.' 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS   DOG.  347 

"Kurnel  Krawfish  jumped  up  an'  rushed  around  the  cabin,  say- 
in',  ' Woman,  thi  name  is  fralety,'  '  'Twas  always  this  from  chile- 
hood's  'our,'  an'  a  lot  ov  other  stuff  I  can't  remember. 

'"  Jes'  so,'  says  the  corporal,  'it  was  allers  so  ever  since  I  en 
tered  the  navee,  an'  it  allers  will  be  so.  An'  I  will  furder  remark 
that  Mister  Buggs,  the  cullud  gentleman  aforesed,  importer  ov  the 
abov'  mentioned  startlin'  news,  did  say  in  my  presence  that  the 
angelic  widder,  Mrs.  Jenkins,  was  very  sweet  on  Kurnel  Fiddles.' 

"  '  I'll  shoot  Fiddles  on  site  ! '  roared  the  kurnel,  '  even  if  it's 
at  the  imenial  halter.' 

"'Jes' so,'  says  Foster,  'but  Buggs  says  he  thort  if  Kuniel 
Krawfish  would  appear  on  the  ground  soon  as  possible  the  widder 
would  drop  old  Fiddles  like  a  hot  pertater.  Furthermore,  the  kul- 
lerd  gentleman  said  he  bleeved  the  aforesed  Kurnel  Fiddles  was  a 
practicin'  his  trix  upon  the  widder,  an'  magnetizm'  her  as  sure  as 
there  are  possums  in  ole  Virginny,  the  State  he  come  from.' 

"  'Poor  deluded  darlin' !'  said  the  kurnel.  'Captain  Foster,  I 
accept  the  terms  you  offer,  an'  will  get  my  fiansay  here,  out  ov  the 
way  ov  that  willian's  matchinations.  If  you'll  permit  me,  Captin, 
I'll  marry  her  on  bord  here,  an'  if  you'll  gimme  a  old  kanoo,  I'll 
drift  with  her  all  the  way  to  Bayou  Lafoorch.' 

"'Jes' so,'  says  Foster,  'but  how  about  your  gettin'  marred 
under  the  foles  ov  that  detested  flag  a  floatin'  there  ? ' 

"  *  Oh,  anythin'  to  save  my  widder  from  the  matchinations  ov 
that  willian  Fiddles — "the  menes  justifys  the  ends."  : 

"  'Jes'  so/  says  Foster,  'but,  as  I  wants  you  all  to  celebrate  the 
cuttin'  ov  the  pound  cake,  you  must  git  marred  to  home.' 

"  After  all  matters  was  settled  satisfactory,  the  kurnel  held  out 
his  hand  to  Foster,  an'  the  corporal  shuck  it  so  the  kernel  had  to 
rub  it  that  nite  with  operdeldock. 

"  Not  a  moment  was  lost,  an'  the  tug  bote  (Jessie  Benton)  was 
to  go  up  with  a  flag  ov  truce  an'  bring  down  the  ladies  and  the  pris- 
'ner  Ned. 

"  Then  Captin  Leaky  wrote  a  letter  to  each  ov  the  angelic  wid- 
ders  an'  to  some  other  young  ladies  in  the  destrick. 

"  The  tug  left  at  two  in  the  arternoon,  an'  was  expected  back 
before  sunset,  an'  you  may  imagine  there  was  joyful  times  on  bord 
the  Larfayett. 

"  About  five  o'clock  the  tug  was  reported  comin',  an'  wen  she 
got  close  the  quartermaster  said  as  how  blue  and  red  signals  was  a 
flyin',  but  he  cooden't  make  'em  out.  But  wen  the  tug  come  close 


348   INCIDENTS   AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

we  see  it  was  the  enchantin'  widders,  an'  our  dorg  Ned  in  the  bow 
a  barkin'  like  mad. 

"  As  soon  as  the  tug  got  alongside,  Ned  jumped  abord  an'  flung 
hisself  at  Captin  Foster's  feet ;  but  the  captin  didn't  notiss  the  tra- 
tor,  but  tole  the  master  at  arms  to  put  the  kriminal  in  dubble  irons 
an*  put  a  gard  over  him.  An'  away  slinked  pore  Ned  with  his  tale 
atween  his  legs  an'  teers  runnin'  out  ov  his  eyes  like  they  was  pored 
out  ov  a  waterin'  pot. 

"  Corporal  Foster  receeved  the  two  ladies  at  the  gangway,  who 
jumped  abord  like  two  fairys  into  the  arms  ov  their  futur'  husbans. 
There  was  never  such  joy  an'  happiness  on  ship  bord  since  Noer's 
arc  grounded  on  Mount  Aryrat.  All  bans  tuck  tea  that  evenin'  in 
the  captin's  cabin,  an'  kep  up  the  enchantment  till  late  at  nite. 

"  In  the  course  ov  conversation  the  widder  Angler  remarked  to 
Captin  Foster,  '  Captin,  if  you  had  accepted  my  invitation  to  tea 
that  nite  I  asked  you,  the  boot'd  a  bin  on  the  other  leg,  an'  you 
would  now  have  been  in  Shreveport.' 

"  '  Jes'  so,'  says  Foster  ;  '  but  how  so  ?' 

"  '  Well,'  says  she,  '  I  had  Major  Grayback  stowed  away  in  the 
kitchen  with  eight  men  ready  to  carry  you  orf.' 

"  '  Jes'  so,'  says  Foster,  '  an'  jus'  before  dusk  I  seen  'em  in  the 
distance,  an'  in  case  I  had  gone  on  shore  I  had  detached  twenty 
marines  to  surround  the  house.  If  the  major  will  remember,  wen 
he  come  out  that  nite  he  couldn't  find  his  bosses.  We  captured 
'em,  an'  not  wishin'  to  cors  bloodshed  an'  stampede  your  chickens, 
we  let  matters  rest  there.' 

"  The  widder  Angler  never  smiled  a  mite,  an'  Major  Grayback 
tried  to  turn  the  conversation. 

"  '  But,'  sed  the  pretty  widder  Jenkins,  t  we  came  neer  baggin' 
that  ole  pot  hunter  ov  an  admiral,  an'  if  he'd  a  gone  a  mile  furder 
we'd  a  bagged  the  pare  ov  you,  an'  we'd  now  be  showin'  you  off  in 
a  cage.' 

"  'Jes'  so/  says  Foster,  '  only  the  ole  pot  hunter  was  wider  awake 
than  any  ov  us.  Wen  he  left  the  ship  he  ordered  twenty  marines 
to  foller  him  on  shore  as  soon  as  he'd  got  four  hundred  yards  away 
an'  keep  close  to  us  all  the  time.  Seein'  your  men  in  the  bushes, 
an'  not  wishin'  to  have  you  ladies  accerdenterly  get  a  ball  in  your 
bussles,  he  took  advantage  ov  the  oppertunity  to  fire  into  them 
birds  an'  distrack  your  attention.  As  you  got  mad  an'  abused  him, 
he  pretended  to  be  too,  an'  turned  back ;  but  if  ever  you  meet  the 
officer  who  commanded  those  Confed'rit  soldiers,  he'll  tell  you  he 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND   HIS  DOG.  349 

was  so  hard  chased  he  had  to  throw  off  his  milingtary  hoots,  an' 
his  men  had  to  throw  away  their  guns  an'  'napsacs,  an'  we  picked  'em. 
all  up.' 

"  Widder  Jenkins  didn't  smile  a  mite  after  this,  an'  the  kurnel 
tried  to  change  the  conversation  also. 

"  Then  they  all  sed  they  was  tired,  an'  went  to  bed,  the  ladies 
sleepin'  in  the  captin's  cabin. 

"Next  mornin'  at  eight  o'clock  the  tug  was  reddy  to  take  all 
the  Confed'rits  to  their  homes,  an'  all  sed  they  was  sorry  to  leeve. 
As  they  was  gettin'  into  the  tug,  Foster  says,  *  Ladies,  there's  one 
pusson  you  never  asked  about,  an'  that  is  your  torpedo  you  sent 
down  on  me  one  nite,  an'  who  got  hooked  into  our  torpedo  net. 
We've  got  him  yit,  but  you  kin  have  him  if  you  want  him.' 

"  ( Good  Heavings  ! '  sed  the  widders,  '  we  thort  you  killed  him ; 
you're  a  deer  good  man  ;  do  give  him  to  us.' 

"  '  Jest  so,'  sed  the  corporal.  e  Master  at  Arms,  bring  up  the 
Confed'rit  torpedo,'  an'  up  come  the  most  remarkable  objec'  you  ever 
see. 

( '  It  was  a  human  bein'  stripped  to  his  waste,  with  the  American 
flag  painted  all  round  his  body  an'  the  Union  jack  in  the  middle  ov 
his  chest.  His  legs  from  the  'nees  down  wos  painted  with  red  and 
wite  stripes.  One  side  ov  his  face  was  blue,  t'other  side  red.  Oh, 
but  he  was  a  booty  !  The  women  shreeked  wen  they  see  him,  an' 
the  crew  give  three  chairs. 

"But  the  torpedo  was  too  glad  to  git  away  on  any  terms.  He 
dove  hed  foremost  into  the  tug  an'  hid  hisself  among  the  kole.  It 
took  him  a  month  to  get  that  ere  paint  off,  for  it  was  dried  on  an' 
covered  with  two  cotes  ov  varnish. 

"  Well,  the  ladies  waved  their  handkerchefs  an'  the  men  their 
hats,  an'  the  tug  was  soon  lost  site  ov  in  the  mouth  ov  Red  River. 
The  last  thing  we  see  was  the  big  weddin'  cake  on  top  ov  the  pilot 
house,  but  we  never  agin  sot  eyes  onto  them  angel  widders  an'  their 
fyansays,  but  we  heered  on  'em  once  more  on  their  weddin'  nite. 

"  Now,  that  job  bein'  off  Corporal  Foster's  hands,  he  sent  for 
the  fust  lootenant,  an'  says  he,  '  I'm  a  goin'  to  try  Captin  Longeye 
an'  condem  the  steemer  Lively  Peggy  for  bein'  derilick  an'  for  her 
captin  affordin'  aid  an'  comfort  to  the  enemy  an'  for  gen'ral  de 
pravity.' 

"  '  But,  captin,'  says  the  fust  lootenant,  'a  Cort  of  Admiralty 
can't  be  established  without  a  act  ov  Congris.' 

"  '  Congris  be  whittled,'  says  the  corporal.     f  I'll  show  you  that 


350   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

I'm  a  law  unto  myself  an'  can  establish  any  kind  ov  court  I  plees. 
Sims  the  pirate  did  it,  why  shouldn't  I  ?  Bring  up  the  pris'ner, 
Captin  Jim  Longeye.' 

"  The  corporal  went  to  his  cabin,  sot  out  pen,  ink,  an'  paper  on 
his  table,  and  sot  down  in  full  uniform  to  wait  for  old  Longeye. 

"  Pretty  soon  the  ole  raskle  appeered  in  charge  of  a  orderly  an' 
the  fust  lootenant  an'  sot  hisself  down  in  a  chare.  '  Stan'  up,  pris- 
'ner,  in  the  presence  ov  the  Cort,'  said  the  corporal,  'an'  hold  up 
your  right  hand.' 

"Captin  Longeye  was  quite  pail  an'  looked  chopfallen.  His 
eyes  wos  red,  an'  he  hed  evidently  been  dosin'  hisself  with  hop  bit 
ters,  ov  which  the  corporal  had  sent  him  a  full  allowance. 

'"I  don't  know  as  I'm  a  pris'ner,'  says  Longeye,  '  an'  I  don't 
reckernize  enny  Cort  of  Admiralty  this  side  ov  Springfeeld,  Illinoy.' 

" f  Jes'  so,'  says  the  corporal,  'an'  I'm  a  branch  ov  that  Cort. 
Now,  Captain  Longeye,  you  had  best  be  quiet.' 

"  '  Well,  sir,'  says  Longeye,  'I  spose  I  must  go  when  the  devil 
drives.' 

"  '  Jes  so,'  says  Foster.  '  Now,'  says  he  to  his  clerk,  '  take  down 
the  pris'ner's  ansers.' 

"  '  I  would  like  to  know,  Captin  Longeye,  what  you  are  doin' 
up  here  consortin'  with  rebbils  an'  runnin'  off  C.  S.  A.  cottin  wich 
ov  rites  all  belongs  to  the  U.  S.  Gov'ment  ? ' 

" '  You  may  ask  the  question,'  says  Longeye,  "but  it  don't  foller 
that  I'll  anser  it.' 

"'Write  down,'  says  Foster,  'derilick  on  the  hi'  sees,  givin'  ade 
an'  comfort  to  the  enemy  an'  violatin'  the  articles  for  the  better 
gov'ment  ov  the  navee.' 

"  'I  objec'  to  that,'  says  Longeye. 

"'Jes'  so/  says  Foster;  'rite  down  "disrespect  to  Cort — fine 
fifty-eight  dollars."' 

" '  Lord  help  me  ! '  says  Longeye,  '  I'm  in  the  hans  of  the  Fillis- 
tines  an'  must  cave  in.' 

'"Jest  so,'  says  Foster;  'I'm  glad  you  have  come  to  realize 
your  precarious  condition,  for  if  you  don't  swing  it  won't  be  becors 
you  don't  desarve  to.' 

'"Now,  Captin,'  says  Foster,  'plees  inform  me,  so  help  you 
Bob,  how  much  you  cleered  wen  you  palmed  the  Unkel  Sam  off 
on  to  the  Admiral  as  a  A  No.  1  copper  -  fastened  ship  insured 
Lloyds.  You  told  us  you  offered  her  for  twelve  thousand  an' 
couldn't  get  that.' 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG.  351 

"  '  That  was  all  gas,'  says  Longeye.     '  I  was  only  bragginV 

" '  Jes'  so/  says  Foster  ;  'rite  down  "lyin'  an'  cheetin'  the  Gov'- 
ment  out  ov  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars."3 

"'No,  sir,'  says  Longeye,  'I  only  cleered  eighteen  thousand 
dollars  as  I'm  a  Christian.' 

" '  Write  down  "  lyin' "  agin,'  says  Foster ;  '  he  ain't  no  Christian  ; 
also  "takin'  advantage  ov  the  Guv'ment  in  the  hour  ov  need,  wen 
evry  man  an*  cittyzen  (except  navy  ossifers)  should  come  forward 
an'  offer  all  they  have  for  their  country's  use."  One  more  question, 
Captin  Longeye,  an'  I'm  done. 

"  '  Wot  was  you  loaded  with  wen  you  landid  an'  communicated 
with  the  Confed'rit  gov'ment  ? ' 

"  'Well,'  says  Longeye,  'you  may  ask.as  many  questions  as  you 
like,-  but  it  don't  f oiler  that  I'll  anser.' 

'"Jess  so,'  says  Foster.  'Mr.  Jedge  Advocit,  rite  down  "10 
hogsheads  ov  hams,  60  barls  ov  flower,  40  pare  milingtery  boots,  10 
sets  waggin  harness,  30  revolvers,  7  hogsheads  of  sugar,  200  yards 
caliker,  200  pares  yarn  stockens,  2  baby  cradles,  1,000  gallons  rifle 
wiskey,  et  cetrer."; 

'"Heavins  and  arth!'  ses  old  Longeye;  'why  that  was  all 
stowed  under  the  cole.  I  hope  the  informer  will  be  struck  dum.' 

"  'Jess  so,'  says  Foster.  'Now,  pris'ner,  stand  up  an'  hear  the 
sentens  ov  this  Cort  : 

" '  You  will  forfet  the  160  bails  ov  cotton  you  stole  from  the 
U.  S.  Guv'ment.  You  will  forfet  all  them  stores  with  wich  you 
intended  givin'  aid  an'  comfort  to  the  rebbels,  an'  you  will  pay 
down  ten  thousand  dollars,  the  amount  you  swindled  the  Guv'ment 
out  ov  wen  you  sold  us  the  Unkel  Sam.  You  can  pocket  the  eight 
thousand  extry,  but  you  don't  get  outer  mi  hans  till  you  pay  up 
the  balance.' 

"  'Where  in  blazes  am  I  goin'  to  git  ten  thousand  dollars  from 
wen  I  ain't  got  ten  sents  ? '  says  old  Longeye,  in  a  rage. 

'"Jess  so,'  says  Foster,  'but  we  found  gist  eighteen  thousand 
dollars  stowed  away  in  that  caliope  ov  yourn  wich  wouldn't  play 
no  how.  So  our  engineer  he  tuk  it  to  peeces  an'  found  the  munny. 
We'll  just  take  ten  thousand  out  an'  you  kin  return  the  rest  to  the 
feller  what  it  belongs  to  ;  no  doubt  you'll  very  soon  have  him  en- 
quirin'  for  it.' 

"Longeye  fell  on  the  deck  as  if  he  was  shot,  an'  Foster  says, 
'Gentlemen,  the  case  is  closed  agin'  the  pris'ner,  an'  the  Cort 
stands  ajourned  siney  dye.' 


352  INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"  All  the  officers  an'  men  who  had  assembled  at  the  cabbin 
doar  to  witness  the  proceedins  applorded  the  just  desision  of 
Corporal  Foster,  an'  wen  we  got  on  the  forecastle  we  drew  up 
ressolushuns  votin'  Corporal  Foster  a  regular  brie',  an'  recom- 
mendin',  without  a  dissentin'  voice,  that  five  thousand  dollars 
shoold  be  divided  at  once  among  the  crew  ov  the  Larfyett,  under 
the  hed  ov  salvage,  an'  the  rest  be  pade  to  them  wen  they  was  dis 
charged,  under  the  hed  ov  prize  money. 

"In  the  meen  time  Captin  Longeye  lay  like  a  ded  man,  altho 
the  corporal  pored  near  a  gallon  ov  hop  bitters  down  his  throte, 
sayin',  'Let  him  injoy  awl  he  can  wile  he  lives.' 

"Arter  awhile  he  begin  to  sigh,  repeetin'  the  immortal  Web 
ster's  last  words — '  I  ain't  ded  yit ' — wen  the  corporal  gave  him  a 
big  tumbler  ov  the  bitters,  an'  Longeye  sot  up  on  his  elbo'  an' 
looked  all  round. 

"  Wen  his  eyes  rested  on  the  corporal,  says  he,  '  You'll  ketch  it 
for  this,  I  tell  you ;  you'll  shake  in  your  butes  wen  you  hear  I 
come  up  on  a  pars  from  Gin'ral  Banks.  An'  here  it  is ' — pullin'  a 
paper  outer  his  pocket  an'  readin'  as  follers  : 

"  'Kno  awl  pussons  that  Captin  Jim  Longeye  is  authorized  to 
proseed  up  river  to  sich  points  as  he  may  seleck  in  the  steemer 
Lively  Peggy,  an'  open  traid  along  the  river,  an'  all  ossifers  ov  the 
U.  S.  Gov'ment  are  cawled  on  to  give  him  ade  an'  encouragement 
an'  not  to  throw  any  hobstacles  in  his  way  wen  hopening  traid  an' 
follerin'  his  legitimate  bizness. 

"  'Given  under  mi  hand  an'  sele  this  26  day  ov  June,  1863. 

"  'BAKES, 
"'Major  Gin'ral,  &c.,  &c.' 

"  '  Jess  so,'  says  Foster,  '  an'  wen  you  git  back  thar,  if  ever  you 
do  git  back,  you  jist  say  to  Gin'ral  Banks  or  enny  other  gin'ral  that 
I'm  the  commandin'  gin'ral  in  this  ere  diocese,  an'  I  reckernize  no 
passes  that  don't  come  from  the  Admiral  who  is  kommander  in 
cheef  on  these  hi'  sees. 

"  'Now,  Captin,  I'll  let  you  go  with  the  Lively  Peggy,  coz  I'm 
sartin  to  ketch  you  agin  at  derilick  matters  in  less  than  a  month. 
You  hed  better  keep  along  with  you  a  bag  ov  ten  thousand  dollars, 
as  that'll  be  the  amount  I  shall  ginrally  assess  you.  I  shall  divide 
your  stores  among  me  an'  mi  ossifers  an'  men.  An'  now ' — spekin 
to  the  fust  lootenant — 'let  him  go  an'  compleat  his  kargo.' 

"  Captin  Longeye  went  off  a  wiser  if  not  a  better  man,  an'  after 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND   HIS  DOG.  353 

transferrin'  all  his  cottin  to  our  dispatch  bote,  the  Gin'ral  Lion, 
wich  had  just  arrived,  he  steemed  down  the  river  fritenin'  all  the 
birds  from  their  roosts  with  the  horrible  music  from  his  darned  ole 
calliope. 

"  Ten  days  arterward  we  see  a  bote  pullin'  up  the  other  side  OY 
the  river  with  two  men  in  her,  an'  wen  she  got  hi*  enuff  up  to  al 
low  fur  the  currant,  she  struck  across  fur  the  Larfyette. 

"  Wen  the  bote  come  alongside,  who  should  appere  but  Marcus 
Aurelius  Washington  Buggs,  the  kullered  gentleman  who  piloted 
us  to  the  plaice  where  we  captured  the  rebs  an'  cottin. 

"  Mister  Buggs  was  accompanied  by  his  father,  who  helped  him 
pull  the  bote,  his  wife,  eight  children,  his  mother,  granfather  an' 
granmother  (who  was  parrylized),  six  dorgs,  four  piggs,  an' 
chickens  too  numrous  to  menshun. 

"  Besides  awl  this,  in  the  stern  sheats  ov  the  bote  was  a  quantity 
ov  fine  furniture,  beddin',  lookin'  glasses,  et  cetrer,  et  cetrer,  an'  as 
Marcus  Aurelius  rose  up  in  the  bote  an'  wiped  his  forhed,  he  sings 
out,  '  Here  I  is,  Massa  Corp'ral  Foster ;  I  tole  you  you  see  this  ole 
darkey  agin  soon.' 

«  <  Why,  where  did  you  come  from,  Marcus  Aurelius,  an'  where 
are  you  bound  ? '  says  the  corp'ral. 

" '  Well,  Massa,'  says  the  ole  nig,  ( I'm  jist  come  from  spilin' 
the  Egyptians,  an'  escaped  from  'em  troo  de  Bed  See,  an'  I  comes 
to  recebe  de  pertecshun  ov  de  Union  flag.' 

"  'But,'  says  Corporal  Foster,  'how  did  you  come  by  that  nice 
furniture  ? ' 

" '  Well,  I'll  tell  you,  Massa,  an'  wen  I  done  tell  you  you'll  say, 
"Well  done,  good  an'  faithful  serpent." 

"'You  must  know,  Massa  Foster,  dat  dat  ar  weddin'  took 
place  six  days  ago  wid  de  two  ossifers  an'  de  two  widders,  an'  since 
dat  time  dars  bin  a  cooin'  like  turkle  doves. 

" '  Yesterday  they  kinder  waked  up  an'  maid  up  a  gran'  pick 
nick,  an'  all  the  village  jined  in.  Yesterday  mornin*  dey  all 
startin'  intendin'  not  to  come  back  till  ten  o'clock  at  nite. 

"  'Dere  wasn't  a  wite  pusson  lef  in  de  village,  so  wen  dey  was 
all  out  ob  site  I  went  to  wuk  spilin'  the  Egyptians  rite  an'  lef,  an' 
wen  I  had  as  much  as  my  bote  would  hole  I  put  out  wid  my  famly 
an'  here  I  is,  tank  de  Lord,  'longside  Massa  Abe  Linkum's  gum- 
botes.' 

"'Why,'  says  Foster,  'you  ole  raskle,  I  call  that  stealin'  or 
robbin',  praps  both.  You'll  be  hung  if  they  catch  you.' 

23 


354   INCIDENTS  AND  ANECDOTES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

"  'Well,  Massa  Foster,  it's  a  hard  ting  to  tell  wot's  the  diffruns 
'tween  steelin'  an'  robbin'  or  takin'  in  time  oy  war.  You  takes  a 
bale  ov  cottin'  wen  yon  sees  it  lyin'  on  the  levee,  an*  you  rides  orf 
on  a  hoss  widout  askin'  who  ones  him,  an'  you  walks  inter  a  house 
an*  takes  wot  prize  you  likes,  an'  you  takes  steembotes  an'  sugar 
an'  cotton  from  peeple  wot  don't  owe  you  nuffin.  I  only  tuck  my 
wages,  Massa.  Me  an'  mine  hev  wucked  fur  dem  peeple  goin'  on 
morn  a  hundred  yeers,  an'  they  ain't  pade  us  a  cent.  So  we  just 
help  ourselves  to  part  payments  until  we  get  a  chance  for  de  rest. 

"  '  I'me  tired  ob  libin'  souf,  an'  me  an'  my  fambly  feel  de  want 
ov  a  more  northern  climate,  specially  arter  spilin'  de  Egyptians.  I 
kalkerlates  our  massa  owes  dis  fambly  'bout  eighteen  thousand  dol 
lars  fur  de  wuck  we  don  fur  dem,  an'  we  pade  ourselves  in  part — 
dat's  all  dere  is  to  it.' 

"'You  are  a  suttle  kasuist,  Mr.  Buggs,'  says  Corporal  Foster, 
'an'  know  how  to  draw  nice  distinctions.' 

" '  No,  Massa,'  says  Marcus  Aurelius,  '  I  ain't  as  bad  as  dat,  no 
how,  leest  wise  I  don't  know  wat  kind  ov  a  animal  dat  is,  as  all  I 
know  ov  drawin'  is  drawin'  water  an'  totin'  wood.' 

" '  Well,  Granny,'  says  the  corporal  to  the  ole  woman,  '  how  is 
you  get  tin'  on  ? ' 

"  ' Me,  Massa  ? '  says  the  ole  woman  ;  'my  name  ain't  Granny  ; 
it's  Rebecker ;  my  ole  man  he's  name's  Isack.  We's  ole  colored 
pussons  ov  de  olden  time ;  we  done  live  togedder  sixty  yeers  like 
Isack  an'  Rebecker  wat  de  Skripter  tell  about,  an'  in  all  dat  time 
we  nebber  hab  a  diffrunce  ob  opinion.' 

'"'Ceptin','  says  Isack,  'dat  time  wen  you  cut  my  hed  open 
wid  de  meat  ax,  an'  dat  odder  time  wen  you  done  knock  dese  front 
teef  out  wid  a  flat  iron.' 

" ' Yes,  honey,'  says  de  ole  woman,  'we  did  disagree  once  a  lit 
tle  about  Mirandy  Bobtale,  but  dat  warn't  noffin,  nohow.' 

" '  An'  Rebecker,'  says  Isack,  'you  remembers  de  time  you  trow 
hot  bilin'  water  on  my  foot  an'  laid  me  up  fur  two  week  ? ' 

"  •'  Yes,  chile,  but  I  only  intended  fur  to  scall  your  big  toe  wat 
you  was  a  warmin'  by  de  fire,  an'  was  a  tryin'  to  stick  it  inter  de 
hoe  cake.  Dat  was  accident.' 

"  'Dat's  so,'  says  Isack,  'an'  I  muss  say  youse  bin  a  blessin'  to 
me  dese  long  years.' 

"  '  Massa,'  says  Rebecker,  '  I  just  wants  some  information.  As 
Marcus  Aurelius  says,  dis  climate  don't  agree  wid  us  nohow,  an' 
we  tinks  ov  movin'  to  Sarrytoga  or  Nooport,  whar  I'm  told  de 


CORPORAL  FOSTER   AND   HIS  DOG.  355 

climate  is  werry  salubrious,  an'  I'm  tole  de  quality  is  gwine  away 
ebry  summer  to  Yewrip,  an'  we  kood  git  a  cottage  dar  on  resonable 
terms.  I  got  in  dis  yer  bag  a  hull  pile  ov  Cornfed'rit  greenbacks, 
nuff  to  live  on  all  my  life.  I'se  atey  (84)  foor  now,  an'  Isack  is 
ninety  two,  an'  I  gess  dis'll  las  us  till  our  time  come.' 

" '  I  only  know  ov  two  houses  to  let  in  Newport  just  now/  says 
Corporal  Foster ;  '  one  is  Mr.  Belmont's  an'  the  other  Mr.  Loril- 
lard's,  but  I  guess  you  kin  git  ether  on  'em  at  resonable  raits. 
Now  go  alongside  the  Gin'ral  Lion  an'  deposit  your  spiles,  an', 
Marcus  Aurelius,  come  back  an'  tell  us  about  the  weddinV 

"  So  the  boat  shoved  off  an'  shipped  all  the  darkeys  on  board 
the  Lion. 

"Then  Marcus  Aurelius  Washington  Buggs  returned  an'  re- 
portid  that  he  had  deposited  his  passengers  accordin'  to  orders. 

"'Now,  Mister  Buggs,'  says  Foster,  'tell  us  about  the  wed- 
din'.' 

"  'Well,  Massa  Captin,'  says  Buggs,  'it  was  thuswise  : 

"  '  Lots  ov  peepil  was  invited  to  see  de  ceremony  at  de  house  ob 
Gin'ral  Blazes,  de  unkel  ob  de  widder  Jenkins,  an'  de  perform 
ance  ob  de  nupshall  cerrymony  was  done  by  ole  Bishop  Crabtree, 
who  tie  de  parties  togedder  so  fass  nuffin  can  ebber  loose  'em. 

" '  Ebry  ting  was  splendid — de  brides  was  dress  in  der  wite 
sattins  an'  lace  wails  an'  gole  slippers,  an'  all  de  jewelry  dey  could 
poke  on  em,  an'  dus  dey  was  'scorted  inter  supper.  Dar  was  a 
table  full  ob  grub  fit  fur  a  prince  to  set  down  to,  an'  all  dat  was 
wan  tin'  to  make  it  purfexin  was  a  rale  ole  Virginny  possum  stuffed 
with  inyons. 

" '  Dar  was  de  big  poun  cake  loomin'  up  like  a  eight  tousan 
bail  team  bote,  an'  ebry  eye  was  upon  it.  Dar  was  two  cross  mark 
on  it  whar  de  nife  was  to  be  stuck  wen  dey  went  fur  de  rings  wot 
you  sed  was  dar. 

" '  Each  widder  tuck  a  nife,  an'  wen  de  wurd  was  give  dey  socked 
'em  in  up  to  de  handle.  Den  come  a  eggsplosion  like  a  pistil,  wen 
de  widders  drapped  de  nives  an'  hollered  like  a  hous  on  fire. 

"  '  Den  evry  one  sing  out  "  Torpedo  ! "  an'  sich  a  gittin'  outer 
doors  you  neber  did  see.  Dey  all  run  like  so  many  rats,  an'  some 
ob  em  run  tree  mile. 

" '  Dis  ole  darkey  crawl  under  de  table  an'  lay  dere  waitin'. 
Fus  I  heerd  suthin  goin'  like  a  'larm  clock,  then  somethin'  struct 
up  a  chune,  den  some  little  bells  rung,  den  de  music  go  on  onst 
mo',  an'  finin*  dat  dis  ting  go  on  adfernitum,  an'  no  more  explo- 


356   INCIDENTS  AND   ANECDOTES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

shun  tuck  plaice,  dis  ole  nig  poke  out  he  hed  an'  look  at  de  cake, 
an'  dar  I  see  de  most  bootiful  ting  dis  ole  nigger  neber  saw  befo. 
I  open  my  eyes  wid  amazement,  an'  so  cumfustered  was  I  dat  I 
thunk  I  was  in  parradise.  I  saw  dat  dar  was  no  harm  dar,  an5 1 
shouted  to  'em  all  to  come  back  anr  see  a  'mazin'  site. 

"  ( It  warn't  no  use  tellin'  'em  de  trufe  for  half  a  hour,  an'  den 
I  succeeded  in  gettin'  'em  all  to  come  back  too  de  weddin'  feest. 
An'  wot  you  think  I  see,  Massa  ? 

"  'Dar  was  de  poun'  cake  wid  de  top  bio  wed  orf,  an'  dere  was  a 
bootiful  figger  ob  liberty  wid  de  Union  flag  in  her  han'  a  leanin' 
ober  a  kullerd  gemman  in  chanes,  an'  a  motter  in  her  odder  han' — 
"Freedom  to  de  slabe."  An'  she  was  a  'knockin'  orf  de  shakles  (as 
was  on  de  kollered  gemman's  legs)  wid  a  hammer.  An'  wat  you 
tink  dem  shackles  was  ?  Wy  two  bootiful  gole  rings  sot  with  dia- 
mants  marked  with  eech  widder's  name,  an'  as  they  teched  dem  the 
musikle  box  plaid  "Hale,  Kolumby"  an'  den  "  Yankey  Doodle," 
an'  den  dey  all  listened  kind  o'  tranced  until  it  woodn't  play  no 
mo',  an'  den  you  mought  a  heerd  a  pin  drap. 

"  '  Den  de  grooms  went  up  an'  tuck  de  shackles  offer  de  cullud 
gemman's  legs  an'  put  'em  on  de  ladies'  fingers,  an'  dey  embraced 
each  odder  an'  shed  teers. 

"  '"Deer  Captin  Foster,"  says  the  widder  Jenkins,  "I'd  kiss 
him  six  times  ef  he  was  here  ! "  "  And  I,"  says  Mrs.  Angler,  "  would 
guv  him  twenty !  Wy  dese  yere  rings  mus'  a  coss  foor  barls  ov 
greenbax.  If  de  kurnel  an'  de  major  had  a  known  what  dey  was 
about,  they'd  a  presented  us  with  suthin'  ov  this  kine  for  'gagement 
rings,  an'  den  dar  wouldn't  been  any  fuss  about  Kurnel  Fiddles." 

" '  An'  then  ebry  one  gib  three  chairs  for  Captin  Foster,  an'  dis 
ole  nigger  an'  his  posterity  gib  twenty — an'  dat's  all  dere  is  ob  it, 
Massa  Captin. 

" ( De  weddin'  was  kep'  up  till  nex  mornin'  an'  "Yankee  Doo 
dle"  an'  "Hale  Columby"  was  plaid  all  nite  long,  an'  dat's  de  fust 
spark  o'  Union  feelin'  I  eber  see.' 

"  '  I  am  much  obleeged  to  you,  Mr.  Buggs,'  says  the  corporal, 
'fur  your  interestin'  narrytive,'  says  he,  'an'  here's  five  U.  S.  one 
dollar  greenbax  for  you,  bran  new  ones  at  that,  an'  they're  wuth 
morun  ten  barls  ov  Confed'rit  notes.' 

"  Mr.  Buggs's  eyes  opened  wide  as  sorcers ;  he  had  never  seen 
any  thin'  like  it  before.  '  Wy,'  says  he,  '  de  Confed'rit  greenback 
bears  no  mo'  comparison  to  dis  dan  a  skunk  does  to  a  elephunt.' 

"  'Now,'  says  the  corporal,  'get  along  on  bord  the  Lion ;  thar's 


CORPORAL  FOSTER  AND  HIS  DOG.  357 

the  last  bell  ringinV  an'  Mr.  Buggs,  bein'  anxious  not  to  lose  his 
passage,  shuck  hans  with  everybody  an'  started,  an'  we  never  saw 
the  Buggs  fambly  agin. 

"  Well,  Jim  Blazes,  my  tail  drors  to  a  klose.  I  hev  only  to  say 
that  Captin  Foster  reported  the  general  fax  ov  the  case  to  the  ad 
miral  an'  wrote  a  official  letter  about  Ned  the  desarter,  ov  wich  this 
here  is  a  troo  coppy  : 

"  '  U.  S.  S.  LARFTBTT,  MOUTH  ov  RED  RIVER, 
"  * 6th,  1863. 

"  '  ADMIKAL  :  I  beg  leeve  to  inform  you  that  the  desarter  dorg 
Ned  is  now  in  my  persession  an'  in  dubble  iruns  under  gard  ov  a  sen 
try.  I  cannot,  as  you  directed,  try  him  an'  hang  him  without  a 
fully  orthorized  cort,  an'  I  hev  not  officers  enuff  to  form  a  cort. 
The  cort  should  consist  ov  13  to  impress  the  squadron  with  the  im- 
portince  ov  the  occashun  an'  show  'em  that  dissipline  mus'  be 
manetaned  an'  disloyalty  punished,  an'  I  think  this  a  case  wher 
the  mos'  extream  penerlty  ov  the  lor  should  be  sarved  out. 

"  f  I  hav  some  witnesses  hear,  but  if  there  needs  any  evidence  to 
show  that  the  brown  setter  dorg  Ned  consorted  with  the  wust  kind 
ov  rebbils,  I  recomommen'  that  a  kullerd  gentleman  by  name  ov 
Marcus  Aurelius  Washington  Buggs,  now  on  his  way  North  in  the 
Gin'ral  Lion,  may  be  suppeeneyed.  If  Mr.* Buggs  should  pass  thro' 
Moun  Citty  without  your  nollege,  he  can  be  found  at  Newport, 
Eode  Hand,  where  he  an'  his  famly  propose  to  taik  up  there  resi- 
dunce  in  ether  the  Biddle  cottage  or  Bennet  manshun. 
"  ( I  hav  the  honnor  to  remane 

"'CORPORAL  FOSTER, 
"  'Major  Gin'ral  commanding  this  diocees.' 

"  The  admiral  larfed  harty  you  bet  wen  he  red  Foster's  letter 
an'  heered  the  hull  story.  He  sent  another  ossifer  to  releeve  the 
corporal, '  for,'  says  he, '  I  must  hav  him  neer  me,  for  I  shall  liv  twice 
as  long  if  I  kin  hav  the  corporal  to  maik  me  larf.' 

"  I  have  lots  ov  good  things  to  tell  you,  Jim  Blazes,  which  will 
keep  until  you  heer  from  me  agin. 

"  I  remane  your  ole  shipmait  in  the  grane  bizness, 

"JACK  TILLER." 

THE    END. 


BY  ADMIRAL  PORTER. 


Allan  Dare  and  Robert  le  Diable. 

A  ROMANCE.  By  ADMIRAL  POETEB.  Illustrated  by  Alfred 
Fredericks.  Two  volumes,  8vo.  Paper,  $2.00 ;  cloth,  $3.00. 

"  Admiral  Porter  is  the  latest  distinguished  accession  to  the  list  of  authors. 
He  produces  not  a  work  on  navigation  but — a  novel.  Men  of  all  professions  are 
trying  their  hands  at  romancing  nowadays.  Admiral  Porter  need  not  be  afraid  of 
comparing  his  work  with  that  of  some  professional  novelists.  The  admiral  ex 
cites  the  curiosity  of  the  reader  with  a  great  deal  of  artfulness.  The  story  has  a 
mystery  to  which  the  author  is  leading  up  with  much  skill ;  he  displays  humor, 
touches  of  pathos,  and  a  knack  of  sketching  characters." — New  York  Journal  of 
Commerce. 

"  All  wonderfully  vivid,  exciting,  and  picturesque,  with  enough  plot  and  inci 
dent  already  to  furnish  out  some  half-dozen  ordinary  novels.  Admiral  Porter  has 
surprising  vigor  and  freshness  of  style  in  narration,  of  picturesqueness  in  descrip 
tion  of  scenes  and  incidents,  and  of  vividness  in  character-sketching.  His  story 
is  wildly  improbable,  but  it  rivets  the  attention,  nevertheless,  and  holds  it  steadily 
by  its  force,  originality,  and  daring." — Boston  Gazette. 

"  Since  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield's  time,  no  famous  man  in  public  affairs  has 
written  a  novel  that  could  excite  public  interest  more  than  this  one." — Philadel 
phia  Bulletin. 

The  Adventures  of  Harry  Marline; 

OR  NOTES  FROM  AN  AMERICAN  MIDSHIPMAN'S  LUCKY 
BAG.  By  ADMIRAL  POETEE.  With  Illustrations.  870,  378  pages. 
Paper,  $1.00 ;  cloth,  $1.50. 

These  life-like  and  stirring  adventures  were  written  by  the  admiral  for  the 
amusement  of  his  boys ;  and,  thinking  it  better  for  people  to  laugh  than  to  cry, 
the  author  has  put  them  into  book-form.  The  picture  of  the  midshipmen  in  the 
olden  times  will  delight  our  middies  of  the  present  day. 

" '  Harry  Marline '  is  written  in  the  racy  manner  that  ought  to  characterize 
every  account  of  doings  at  sea.  In  reading  it  one  is  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
stern  and  humorous  reality  of  a  midshipman's  life.  The  descriptions  are  most 
exhaustive ;  the  humor  of  the  driest ;  the  cock-and-bull  stories — '  yarns '  we  be 
lieve  they  be  called  aboardship — the  cockiest-and-bulliest  afloat ;  the  satires  upon 
the  green  Secretaries  of  the  Navy  (of  those  old  days)  the  keenest  and  most  satis 
factory.  There  is  hardly  a  page  that  does  not  excite  the  risibilities  involuntarily, 
and  after  one  closes  the  volume  delightful  memories  remain.  The  admiral  de 
serves  the  title  of  '  our  later  Cooper '  or  perhaps,  by  reason  of  his  deep  stratum 
of  humor,  that  of  the  Marryat  of  America.  There  are  several  illustrations,  well 
designed  and  executed." — Hartford  Evening  Post. 


New  York:  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


ANECDOTES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

By  Brevet  Major-General  E.  D.  TOWNSEND, 
Late  Adjutant-General  U.  8.  Army. 


12mo Cloth,  $1.35. 


"The  work  treats  in  a  very  pleasant  conversational  way  of  various  events  and  incidents, 
around  which  our  interest  lingers,  and  of  which  much  is  here  said  that  has  hitherto  been  unsaid. 
Among  the  topics  upon  which  the  author  dwells,  and  which  may  be  cited  as  giving  an  idea  of  the 
scope  and  nature  of  his  work,  are  General  Scott's  loyalty,  the  defense  of  Washington,  the  neutral 
ity  of  Kentucky,  Early's  invasion,  service  in  the  Adjutant-General's  office,  President  Lincoln's 
funeral,  Fort  Sumter,  origin  of  military  commissions,  Army  of  the  Potomac  commanders,  etc." — 
Washington  Daily  Post. 

"  General  E.  D.  Townsend,  who  was  Assistant  Adjutant-General  on  the  staff  of  General  Scott 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion,  and  who  continued  to  discharge  the  same  functions  during  the 
civil  war,  had  of  course  opportunities  of  acquiring  much  curious  information.  Some  of  the  facts 
thus  brought  to  his  knowledge  he  may  never  feel  at  liberty  to  divulge,  but  there  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  good  deal  which  the  lapse  of  time  Las  made  it  proper  to  publish.  Such  of  his  recollections 
as  belong  to  the  latter  category  are  now  set  forth  in  a  medium-sized  volume  called  "Anecdotes 
of  the  Civil  War."  General  Townsend's  stories  are  related  in  an  entertaining  way,  and,  even 
where  they  bear  somewhat  severely  on  the  character  or  motives  of  the  persons  named,  seem  free 
from  any  propensity  to  exaggerate  or  taint  of  malice.  The  personal  reminiscences  of  a  man 
holding  confidential  relations  to  men  in  high  authority  might  be  expected  to  throw  light  on  sev 
eral  obscure  transactions,  and  this  will  be  found  to  be  the  case." — New  York  Sun. 

"  General  Townsend's  book  is  all  interesting^' — New  York  Army  and  Navy  Journal. 

"  An  agreeable  intermingling  of  personal  anecdotes  and  historical  statements.  Full  of  useful 
information." — New  Yorlc  Kome  Journal. 

"  The  General  bore  an  important  and  honorable  part  in  the  struggle,  and  has  the  rare  gift  of 
telling  briefly,  humorously,  and  pathetically  of  what  he  saw  and  heard  during  all  the  eventful 
years." — New  York  Journal  of  Commerce. 

"  General  Townsend  has  much  to  say  of  individuals,  and  a  kindly  spirit  animates  all  his  com 
ments.  Numerous  incidents  are  related  that  are  wholly  new  to  the  reader,  though  he  be  an 
inveterate  newspaper  peruser  or  reporter,  and  they  can  not  fail  to  interest  the  most  casual  reader. 
The  old  soldiers  of  the  great  contest  will  enjoy  these  recitals."— Boston  Commonwealth. 

"  Another  of  those  contributions  to  the  inner  history  of  the  war  which  are  not  only  interesting 
to  the  curious  reader,  but  form  valuable  material  for  the  future  historian.  Much  is  told  of  Gen 
eral  Scott  which  is  interesting ;  we  get  some  new  anecdotes  concerning  President  Lincoln,  and 
there  is  an  account  of  Secretary  Stanton  which  will  be  likely  to  modify  the  harsh  criticism  of  him, 
of  late  more  prevalent  than  ever.  The  book  abounds  in  quotable  material,  which  we  regret  that 
our  space  does  not  permit  us  to  transfer  to  our  columns." — Boston  Gazette. 

"  No  man  in  the  United  States  is  better  qualified  to  gossip  pleasantly  upon  the  great  events 
which  twenty  years  ago  were  in  everybody's  mouth  than  Brevet  Major-General  E.  D.  Townsersd. 
His  anecdotes  are  not  only  remarkably  entertaining,  but  they  throw  a  light  upon  many  vexed 
questions  which  will  prove  of  infinite  value  to  the  military  historian." — New  York  Commercial 
Advertiser. 

"The  author  writes  in  a  charitable  spirit  of  Scott,  Stone,  Lee,  Buckner.  Burke,  McClellan, 
Blair,  Sheridan,  Stanton,  Lincoln,  and  many  others.  General  Townsend  fully  disposes  of  the 
malicious  rumor  that  Stanton  committed  suicide.  These  anecdotes  are  well  worth  buying  and 
reading  from  beginning  to  end."— New  YorJc  Christian  Advocate. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETOff  &  CO.,  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  Street. 


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